Lanett Mayor Kyle McCoy announced Monday that the city had an agreement in place to purchase the 27-acre Lanett Mill site across from Highway 29.

The $530,000 agreement with Regeneration LLC opens up a lot of doors for city, which deserves a lot of credit for making this purchase. The mill has been viewed as an eyesore since its closure more than a decade ago, and for years, there wasn’t much the city of Lanett could do.

And that’s usually where it begins and ends for most cities.

If there’s private land, unowned by the municipality, there’s usually not a lot that can be done other than enforcing city codes.

As long as those are followed — and a lot of times even if they aren’t — there’s little that can be done.

However, Lanett and the Chambers County Development Authority didn’t just sit on their hands. The city found a way to acquire the land, and now has control of any development that takes place there. There can actually be development on that land now, and the city and CCDA can actively go out and seek it.

Lanett went from wishing the mill site would go away to now having a 27-acre area of land ready for development and at the city’s disposal. It’s the kind of news that doesn’t come all that often for a city with a population of around 6,200.

“For so long, we had to defend something we had no control of,” McCoy said at a press conference announcing the purchase. “I am proud to announce the closing of the purchase and that we will be able to do something about it now.”

We’re excited about the potential of the mill site and what its development could mean for Lanett long-term.