The possible donation of Ames Community School District’s spare land may lead to a new affordable housing project for Ames.

The Ames City Council and the Ames School Board met Monday night to discuss possibilities for an affordable housing project on a vacant parcel of land along 24th Street.

The city would utilize its Community Development Block Grant to subsidize financing of the infrastructure for the housing project, that would include 70 or more detached dwellings to be sold at prices affordable to people of low and moderate income.

Ames City Manager Steve Schainker described the housing project as a “balance of interests” among the city, public, contractors and the potential homeowners.

If the school district were to donate the land, the city would have until July 1, 2006 to enter a contract with a housing developer or the school district could choose to void the agreement, Schainker said. Some of the contracting would be done with non-profit developers.

The requests for proposals were created by a team of city staff members, who took into consideration input from the City Council, Ames School Board, neighbors of the land area and developers and builders. Similar housing developments were also looked at as examples, like those on Ken Maril Road, Brentwood St., 24th St. and Hoover Ave.

“We are delighted that you are further encouraging affordable housing in the city of Ames,” said Jim Black, board president for Habitat for Humanity of Central Iowa. “It is our desire as a Habitat affiliate to partner with the city and school board in this project.”

Black went on to make recommendations for the removal of certain minimum requirements for the houses to reduce construction costs and make houses more affordable to potential home buyers.

“We applaud the school board and City Council for considering this,” said Ted Huiatt, vice president of the Story County Community Land Trust.

“We think this is a good opportunity for providing affordable housing, which is clearly in need in Ames.”

Huiatt had concerns similar to Black’s.

He also thought certain minimum requirements should be removed from the houses, like a half bathroom and extra parking space, so costs could be reduced to home buyers.

The idea for an affordable housing development came as an outgrowth of a 2004 goal setting session, where the City Council established the usage of the Community Development Block Grant for new owner-occupied, single-family, detached housing subdivision as a top priority.

The City Council and school board will meet again Aug. 9 when they will approve or deny both the land transfer agreement and the request for proposals document for solicitation.