The demolition of the former Clay School building soon will be underway. That’s good. But at the same time it’s also somewhat hard to understand how City Council members already appear to have made their minds up that spending a minimum of $14 million in taxpayer dollars just to demolish the school will result in nothing more than a community recreation center.

Is that truly the best use for the property? Perhaps. However, shouldn’t the taxpayers at least expect discussion at some level of a venture that could help recoup the cost they’re paying for the demolition? There’s also the cost to construct a new community center that needs factored into the equation. How much will that set taxpayers back? A community recreation center will be a use that will result in no property taxes being paid.

At the very least, the city should consider a mixed use there with the potential for public and private entities. Simply converting that entire block into a recreation center and parking lot without any additional thought toward a revenue-generating venture would be foolish. It’s time taxpayers started seeing a return on investment at some level for the millions being spent on acquisition and demolition.