Ronan secures MREC land from Lake County

There should have been confetti and a parade as Lake County Commissioners made a move to put the Mission Recreation Event Center land to use.

Commissioners Gale Decker, Bill Barron and Steve Stanley accepted an offer from the City of Ronan to buy the county’s portion of the MREC property at a meeting on Monday, June 3. The offer was for $82,500, and the money was from the coffers of Pioneer Days, which requested a lease of at least 10 acres of the property to build a rodeo arena and stock pens and put up seating.

“It’s been 19 years since last March,” former Ronan mayor Kim Aipperspach said, since plans began among Lake County, the City of Ronan, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to build a multi-use recreation site on land off  Mink Lane in Ronan.

Several Pioneer Days members and supporters, Ronan Mayor Chris Adler and Ronan City Council members Marlene Melton and Julie Moore attended Monday’s meeting. 

Although pleased with the commissioners decision, Pioneer Days member Mike Bartell was already thinking about the next steps. He said the group needed to wait for the property deal to close and for the City of Ronan to annex the property and remove the ag restriction before getting to work.