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(Des Moines, IA) -- The Polk County Board of Supervisors is voting to add $10 million to its funding of a proposed downtown Des Moines stadium project. That brings the county's total investment in cleaning up the former DICO site to $17 million. The vote passed 3-2, despite concerns over usage of county money. Frist district supervisor Matt McCoy voted against the funding.
"We continue to have a shortage of affordable housing," McCoy says. "We continue to need additional supportive housing. Is this really where we need to be putting the next $10 million?"
But supporters, like Board of Supervisors Chair Angela Connolly, say the stadium complex would help them be able to help others.
"Des Moines, and the region, needs this kind of development so that we can help our most vulnerable citizens and do what we need to do," Connolly says. "Or, Des Moines might as well just fold up shop."
Another concern brought up by McCoy is the timing of the vote. In two weeks, the Board of Supervisors will replace two members as part of the general election.
"Just out of respect for the process, I would've liked to have waited until the new board was seated and we could address this as a coalition, as a new board," McCoy says. "And get that public input about our priorities."
Both exiting Supervisors, Steve Van Oort and Robert Brownell, voted in favor of the funding. He says it's because of other parts of the proposed plan such as housing, a hotel and a global plaza.
"It's too bad this has to be called the soccer project because it's so much more than that," Brownell says. "The connotation there is that this is a soccer stadium. We're going to spend tens of millions of dollars on a soccer stadium. Who would do that? If that's all it was, I would vote against it myself."
The total cost of the stadium is expected to be more than $95 million. This approval comes after the State of Iowa awarded the project $23.5 million.