By Sean J. Miller .... sean@dmcityview.com

Snafu delays Rice sale

The pending sale of Rice Field, an unofficial park in Des Moines’ Beaverdale neighborhood, will be put to another vote by the Board of Directors of the Des Moines Independent Community School District after officials learned of a mistake in the published notice of their Oct. 31 meeting, says Marc Ward, the school board president.

The board unanimously approved the sale of Rice Field to the Rice Development Group for $650,000 during their Halloween meeting, Ward says. The development group, headed by the Boesen family, plans to build a mix of residential and commercial units on the property.
However, the meeting to approve the sale was held at Hyatt Middle School instead of 1800 Grand, the site reported in the official notice published in The Des Moines Register on Oct. 20.

“We made a mistake,” Ward says. “I plan on correcting that mistake.”

Another meeting, and another vote to approve the sale of the property is slated for Jan. 9 at 1800 Grand Ave., Ward says. For residents who oppose the development it will be their last opportunity to publicly address the board about the issue.

“Have them bring a proposal,” Ward says. “We will go through the process and people will have the opportunity to speak.”

Still, the school board president says he’s doubtful the board can alter its course because it has signed a contract with a developer.

“I don’t want to rule it out, but there’s a lot of legal implications given the stage of the process,” he says. “I need to see what the offer is.”

Some Beaverdale residents are ardently opposed to the sale of Rice Field. About 10 residents recently formed a non-profit organization called Save The Green, Inc. and appealed the board’s decision to approve the sale to the State Board of Education on Nov. 30.

The state board refused to consider the appeal, says George Qualley IV, a lawyer for the group.

The organization will now proceed with legal action through the Polk County Court system. “At this point, we’re looking to ensure the process adheres to the law,” he says. “We feel the processes have not been done right.”

Many residents considered the sale a “done deal,” despite a lengthy period of public comment on the project, Qualley says.

“If it is a done deal, then there’s something wrong because that’s not how the public process is supposed to work,” he says. It comes down to a question of: did the school board “make it a public decision, or was it something else.

The school board says the public wanted the property to be developed. In 2004, it canvassed public opinion and the decision to develop the land was “what they came back with,” Ward says.

The board then solicited development bids, and received six, Ward says. “The city could have [bid for the land] but they didn’t. It’s not the school district’s responsibility to provide parks in the city.”

City officials say they didn’t bid for the land because a park isn’t needed in that area.

But residents behind Save The Green dismiss the suggestion that there are enough parks in the area, though it already has two. Beaverdale Park and Ashby Park aren’t easily accessible for residents on the west side of the neighborhood, says Sharon Hummel, 46, director of Save The Green.

Saying other parks nearby can compensate for the loss of Rice Field isn’t “a strong argument, given how much this field is used,” she says.

Hummel says she’s gathered 675 signatures on a petition calling for the land to be preserved as a park.

“If we lose this green space, that’s the end of green space in the northwest,” she says.

Some residents, like Jack Holveck, say the Beaverdale Neighborhood Association (BNA) should have raised funds to purchase the land. Holveck represented the neighborhood for nine-terms in the Iowa House of Representatives and one-term in the Senate. “I think it’s certainly not the neighborhood association’s finest hour.”

Bill Miller, president of the BNA, says the association tried to play “a positive role” in the development process.

“The school board said ‘the time is now for us to sell and we’re going to seek proposals for how this is used,’” he says, “and there wasn’t anyone who came forward with a million dollars and said ‘I’m going to endow a park.’ Our position was we want to be a participant in this process, [to make sure] it changes into something appropriate for the neighborhood.”

The school board could have sold the land to a developer who planned to build a big-box store or a gas station, Miller says. “We wanted to have an impact, and I think we’ve been pretty successful with that.”

Hummel says Save The Green is considering putting together a proposal to buy the land and preserve it as a park. She says the group will do everything it can to halt the proposed development.

“You really have to listen to the residents when you’re talking about land that’s been publicly held and publicly maintained for such a long time,” she says. CV

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