City council held a public hearing Monday to hear comments about the request by Barbara Dicks to trade or vacate or in whatever appropriate manner reassign ownership of land adjacent to her property where Grand Avenue becomes Dairy Hollow Road. Dicks was the only person who spoke.
She said her plans had changed a bit since she began trying to resolve the ownership puzzle near her property. She is negotiating with adjacent landowners regarding the southernmost set of lots being discussed. She is asking for another strangely landlocked 95-ft. section of land in the middle of these lots be deeded to her, but wants to trade this plot plus a 30-ft. plot extending from Grand Avenue south and a 60-ft. plot extending beyond it in exchange for street frontage running from Clear Spring School to the corner of Grand Ave. and Dairy Hollow Rd. This strip of land will be given to the Parks Department as part of a trail eventually connecting Clear Spring School with Harmon Park.
Parks Director Justin Huss told council Dicks was being generous in offering the trade, and the Parks Department heartily endorsed the deal. He said it would the responsibility of Parks to address drainage issues associated with the trail route.
Alderman Terry McClung commented, “It’s a no-brainer. I move we proceed with the next step.”
Alderman Kristi Kendrick was concerned the city might need a survey of properties as well as a legal description of the easement. McClung said council would just need a letter from the current owner that he is selling the property to Dicks. Mayor Butch Berry then said the first thing they need to do is take the property back from the jurisdiction of Parks. McClung refined his motion that such an ordinance be prepared for discussion at the next meeting. Vote to approve his motion was unanimous.
Discussion of land swaps and vacations, however, had just begun. Kendrick had proposed an overhaul of the process of vacating property, and had prepared an ordinance along with suggested amendments to the vacation application. She also provided copies of legislation pertaining to vacations.
One of her emphases besides streamlining the vacation process was for the city to get back expenses incurred in the process, and that the vacation application fee of $200 be non-refundable.
McClung observed most of the properties involved in vacation requests are not worth much, and wondered aloud if they were not trying to make too much out of it the situation. He was firm that if a request were denied, the application fee should be refunded.
Schneider agreed. “It’s a ton of money the applicant would be paying, and we’re not that kind of city,” she remarked.
Kendrick pointed out her ordinance gave council the flexibility to waive fees, and Berry noticed sentiment was for fees to be refundable. However, sentiment also pointed to setting up a workshop to sort out issues regarding vacations. Berry said his office would arrange a date and time for a workshop.