Keokuk, IA – Plans to build a new weight room at Keokuk High School have cleared another hurdle.
The City Planning Commission has given its approval to the district's plan to build a roughly 5,900 square foot addition where the current weight room sits.
Business Manager Greg Reynolds says more than $150,000 has been raised for the project while the district has committed several hundred thousand dollars more.
High School Principal Dave Keane says the addition will serve as a weight room and a classroom.
A cost estimate for the project is still being worked up.
The district's plan must still be approved by the Keokuk Board of Adjustment before any construction can begin.
That panel meets Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Keokuk City Planning Commission is recommending two city blocks, near Roquette America, be rezoned from residential to industrial use.
The company hopes to build an ethanol plant on land, near Bluff Park, that it either owns or is in the process of obtaining.
Roquette is also asking the city to vacate several streets near that property.
The planning commission went along with almost all of that proposal: vacating portions of Park, E , and F streets and two alleys.
The panel, though, would not recommend the vacating of Park Street between F and G streets, citing access to Bluff Park.
The recommendations now go to the full Keokuk City Council.