City council members want to see the big picture of downtown's future before responding to school board's proposal for a downtown elementary school

Decorah City Council members feel the decisions they make about downtown land use will have impacts 50 to 75 years from now, so they're taking time to make sure they make the right decisions.

Meeting as the Community Betterment Committee following their regular meeting, city council members were cool towards the school board's request that 8.5 acres of city-owned land be sold to the school district for the site of a new elementary school.  The conversation so far has been focused on the elementary school, said committee chair Johanna Bergan, but a broader conversation is needed.

Committee members will first meet jointly with the city's Planning & Zoning Commission and Park-Rec Board to answer questions that have come up about just what the actual boundaries are of city-owned and school-owned property downtown.

Meanwhile, Decorah mayor Lorraine Borowski is lobbying for creating a visioning group which could study not just the school district's property needs, but the city's as well.  City council member Kirk Johnson said if the school district takes over the city's softball diamond property, "Their problems become ours."

City council members cited proposals for a central park, community center, permanent farmer's market structure and future space needs for the fire department, police department, park department and other city departments as factors which need to be considered.  In addition, they asked the school board to consider other options for the elementary school, including using the high school's softball and baseball diamonds and pushing the elementary school location east of John Cline School, with State Street being closed.

As the mayor told the seven city council members, "There are so many parts to consider."