A draft resolution for constructing a community center for Martin Luther King, Jr., Elementary School will be put to a final vote at its Monday night Urbana City Council meeting.

The elementary School is located in north Urbana, 1108 Fairview Avenue, said Alderman Brandon Bowersox of Ward 4 in Urbana, east of Crystal Lake Park near Goodwin Avenue.

The resolution would construct a community center for the neighborhood adjacent to the elementary school. The community space can be used by the school during the day for assemblies or play practices, said Charlie Smyth, Ward 1. He added that the surrounding neighborhood can use the space for community dinners, civic meetings or adult classes, including tutoring.

“The community around King School has been trying to get some meeting space for over 20 years,” Smyth said. “The idea is to have a place where neighborhoods can have a space for community activities. There are lots of ways to use that common space. The community room will have lots of different uses.”

Smyth added that the discussion to construct a community center in this particular neighborhood was brought to the city council’s attention in the early 1990s.

According to the memorandum, the project will cost about $400,000 from the Tax Increment Finance funds, or TIF, an account for property taxes, said David Gehrig, Ward 2. The school property falls within the boundary lines of the district and is qualified to receive the funding from the finance account. Bowersox added that the balance of the TIF account by the end of June will be $1 million, of which $400,000 would go toward the project.

Gehrig said the city considers two things when approving a Tax Increment Finance district: where the border lines of the district are and how long it will remain. The fund for the Martin Luther King Elementary School district will expire in 2013.

“They define a boundary of a community that needs improvement,” he added.

Property taxes of a particular community are frozen at a certain amount. If there are any increases from this amount, the difference goes into the finance account.

“The money that is put into this special fund is to improve that particular area,” Gehrig said. “The sunset is approaching. I think the main thing is to create a good meeting space to pull a community together. Anything that we can do to draw the community together is a good thing.”

He added that it is for the community to decide what it wants to see in the community center. Gehrig added it is important to get input from everyone in the neighborhood for this community space.

Bowersox said the school district has a long-term goal of attaching a community center to every elementary school in Urbana. During the evenings, the neighborhood will be able to utilize the community center. While the rest of the school will be closed for the night, the community space will still be open for the neighborhood.

“A community room has been an idea that has been talked about for many, many years. It has been talked about and hoped for,” Bowersox said. “Finally, it’s going to be a reality.”