VALLEY — The City of Valley expanded by several hundred acres Monday evening. Tracts 1 and 3 of the recently purchased Combs property were approved for annexation in a unanimous vote.

The property is located south of the former WestPoint Home Transportation Center between Fairfax Bypass and Osanippa Creek. It’s contiguous with Valley Industrial Park and expands city-owned land on that side of town to around 800 acres. Tracts 2 and 4 of the Combs property were previously annexed.

For several years now the city has owned around 400 acres of former WestPoint Home land behind the former Lanier-Carter Mill site. A 30-acre site on that land has been sold to Scannell Properties for the purpose of development as a distribution center for WestRock. Site prep work is presently under way.

The city has authorized Mayor Leonard Riley to negotiate the purchase of a 300-acre site on the north side of Fob James Drive. Should the purchase be consummated, the city would own around 1,100 acres on the west side of town with a stated goal of having it developed for industrial or commercial use.

The site off Fob James Drive is commonly known as the Burney property. It’s located across Fob James Drive from Zaxby’s. Burney Farms LLC and Burney Acres LLC along with S.L. Burney IV and Sandra Burney are the current owners. It will take three separate contracts to complete the sale.

If this goes through, the City of Valley will own approximately 1,100 acres of prime real estate right off the Interstate.

This acreage would include three separate purchases. The first was from former WestPoint Stevens entities and is located behind the Lanier-Carter site. Site preparation is under way at the present time on 30 acres of that land for a future WestRock distribution center.

This site is around 400 acres and includes the former Lakeview Cabin, which has been renovated for future use.

Adjoining this site is the 400-acre Combs property, which is now owned by the city and inside the city limits.

Those two sites, along with the 300-acre Burney site (should a potential sale go through) would give the city control over 1,100 acres with rapid access off I-85.

There is some significant timber on the Burney site. A timber cruise will determine its value and will be figured into the sale price.