ALGONA – The Algona Community School District has applied for an Iowa Department of Natural Resources demolition grant to assist in the demolition of the district’s Titonka school building.

The district plans to sell the building to the city of Titonka for $1, with the north part of the building being torn down and its newer sections being used by the city and one classroom being used for the district’s preschool program.

The school district must tear down the building first, though, before it can be sold to Titonka.

The DNR grant, for up to $50,000, is something the district has pursued since the beginning of the project, Marty Fonley, Algona CSD superintendent, said.

“We sent a grant in for part of the tear-down, because, with the city, when we were talking about the project, what we were hoping to do is be able to get a DNR grant to help pay for some of the tear-down, north wing, which is one of the things the city had wanted,” Fonley said. “So we’ve applied for that, whether we work with the city or tear down parts of the building anyway.”

The grant would cover only a portion of the demolition cost.

“The estimates we got on that north end were probably around $150,000, just for the north end, but it all depends on the amount of asbestos and so on that they might find,” Fonley said.

Asbestos abatement requires separate work to be done.

“You have to have special crews that can do that kind of stuff,” Fonley said.

The project will not have a negative impact the district’s general fund dollars.

“What you typically can do with a tear-down like that is, it impacts, but you can reapply for the authority back to your general fund,” Fonley said. “So, if it costs you $100,000 to tear something down, and you use general fund dollars to do it, you would use the cash, but you can apply to the (School Budget Review Committee) on those situations to have the authority returned.”

He added, “It’s an unexpected cost sometimes, with mergers.”

The grant was approved by the Algona CSD school board in February and submitted to the Iowa DNR before its Feb. 28 deadline.

Fonley said the district expects a response in April.

The demolition project is expected to be completed during the summer, with planning still taking place.

“I’m hoping the next couple of weeks, we may meet with the city,” Fonley said, “and see what their thoughts are, as far as, do they want to pursue? Do they not want to pursue?”