Sheldon, Iowa — Over a million dollars in property will change hands with the goal of providing more property for housing in Sheldon.
The Sheldon Chamber & Development Corporation (SCDC) and the City of Sheldon have announced that they have signed purchase agreements to acquire about 47 acres of farmland from the Anthony Pape Trust. Each transaction is scheduled to close in 2025.
Officials tell us the Pape family has owned the land, which is located in southwest Sheldon near Wyman Street and South 5th Avenue, for many years.
They tell us the collective goal of SCDC and the City is to develop the land for residential purposes. However, the land will continue to be farmed while development timelines and plans are finalized.
SCDC Board Chair April Schaeffer, says, “This is an exciting moment for Sheldon, and we are grateful to the Pape family for their willingness to sell this property for the community’s future housing needs.”
The main portion of the land is between South 5th and South 8th avenues, and between Wyman Street and 16th Street, with smaller portions north of Wyman and west of South 5th. The land is south of the Canadian Pacific tracks and northeast of Maintainer.
Sheldon City Attorney Micah Schreurs says the city will own about 30 of the 47-ish acres, and will pay $900,000 for the property, with the balance (around 17 acres) being purchased by the SCDC — and the SCDC will become the developer. Schreurs says the idea is for the SCDC to eventually become the sole owner of the property, and then they will sell the property as lots for homes.
We asked him where the money is coming from, and Schreurs says that issue will probably come up in future Sheldon City Council meetings.
Schreurs says that it each acre will probably hold four to five lots, with some exceptions. So, doing the math, it seems likely that there will be over 150 new lots if they are all developed.
He says it hasn’t been discussed, but it seems likely that there would be some green space included as well. He tells us it’s likely that the lots will be released in some sort of groups, and not all at once.
We asked Schreurs if this will be what people call “affordable housing” property, or what kind of development will go here.
He says no discussions have been had regarding if the entire property will be zoned single-family residential, but that’s certainly one of the things Sheldon needs — is property for single-family homes.
Schreurs says many of these details need yet to be worked out during discussions at various future meetings, including how people should proceed if they are interested in building in the new area. He says we’ll just have to stay tuned.
