Should municipal governments be in the business of residential real estate speculation? Generally, no.
What if Pratt has a better chance for growth if the city has a ready direction to grow? A good reason, but not good enough.
What if the greater part of home building is taking place just outside the city limits instead of within the community’s boundaries? Maybe, but still probably not.
What if the available lots are few and far between in neighborhoods or locations that potential builders find unsuitable? Better still, but still no.
Why?
If all of these factors are present and urgent, as three of the city’s five commissioners assert, then real estate developers should be jumping at the chance to invest in Pratt’s future. That’s what developers do, after all. But they’re not platting new subdivisions. They’re not mapping new roads, applying for building permits, putting up signs. They’re not investing in Pratt’s desperate need for new spaces for new homes.
Why?
Commissioner Jeff Taylor, who last week opposed the city’s purchase of 52 acres between Parkway Avenue and K-61 highway, understands. The investment is huge — “$2-3-4-5 million” and the payoff can be decades in the distance. With the economy in flux and almost everyone betting on a worldwide recession, who would be willing to bet on Pratt’s need for a new subdivision?
Not the people whose business is real estate. They see the need, but they are not taking the risk.
Instead, Mayor Eric Nystrom, Commissioner Glenna Borho and Commissioner Willy Peltier are risking the public’s money.
To be fair, they have not voted to create a new subdivision. The trio has spent only $185,000 to purchase 52 acres of land. The only thing they’ve really committed to is extending Maple Street to K-61 through the middle of that tract. Months will pass before the street project is underway, enough time, according to City Manager Dave Howard, to get a better feel for how the current economic crisis will affect Pratt, enough time for Nystrom, Borho and Peltier to change their minds.
Streets are the city’s business without a doubt. Maple Street should be extended as a sign of support for Pratt’s growth if for no other reason. Commissioners Taylor and Bill Hlavachick are not adamantly opposed to that idea.
They are opposed, however, to committing Pratt to a new subdivision without a clear mandate from taxpayers who face the very real possibility of hard times ahead. In that opposition, they are correct.
Conrad Easterday
