IOWA CITY — Officials in the growing Iowa City school district plan to build a new elementary school in the heart of North Liberty.

The school board voted unanimously today to buy about 11 acres of farmland just southwest of the intersection of Zeller and Front streets for $703,170.

"It's exciting. ... We've been working on this a long time," school board President Toni Cilek said.

Superintendent Lane Plugge said he hopes to close on the purchase by mid-July and start construction soon after. Officials have tentatively set a fall 2009 opening date for the school, although Plugge called that "very aggressive."

"I can't promise we'll make '09," he said.

The district is in desperate need of a new elementary school. Its certified enrollment increased 4 percent this year, to 11,716 students. That growth is projected to continue, with 1,000 additional elementary school students expected in the next five years.

Enrollment is especially booming on the west side of the district in fast-growing North Liberty and Coralville. Van Allen Elementary in North Liberty opened in 2005 and already is overcapacity.

Boundaries have not been set for the new school, but there are a few hundred elementary-age children in the immediate area, Plugge said.

"One of the attractive things about this site is the kids are already there," board member Mike Cooper said.

Preliminary plans call for a 57,000-square-foot school for up to 500 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, which would be similar in size to elementary schools recently built in the district.

It will be paid for using school infrastructure local-option sales tax money. The need for more schools was a selling point by school officials when they asked voters to approve the tax in February 2007.

Board members admitted that, at $703,170, the purchase was expensive. The property was appraised at $495,000, and the cost estimates for developing the land ranged from $266,650 to $282,550, Plugge said.

But as part of the agreement, the seller, Alberhasky Family Farm Limited Partnership, will pay the development costs to add things like roads and utilities to what has primarily been farm land.

"I feel comfortable that the price is a fair market and appropriate price," board member Tim Krumm said.

The district does have some options to get out of the deal should they find a problem with the land or if the infrastructure work is not completed on time.

Construction of the school building is expected to cost another $9 million.

Officials had hoped to build a new elementary school on land the district owns at the intersection of Dubuque Street and North Liberty Road. But the site is part of an annexation dispute between Coralville and North Liberty and also subject to a lawsuit brought by area residents in 2006, leaving the annexation and, therefore, the school site in limbo.

Plugge said the district could still build a school on that land when the dispute is settled. Overall, the district is expected to build two elementary schools and a high school in the next decade to handle rising enrollment.