Valley council approves major property sales

Published 9:30 am Wednesday, August 16, 2023

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VALLEY — The Valley City Council on Monday suspended the rules and adopted on first readings the sale of four lots along 30th Street in Todd Addition. The city-owned lots are located behind existing homes, and the property is being purchased by those who live in those homes.

The lots vary from a little more than a half acre to approximately an acre-and-a-half. The lots are being sold at fair market value, with the smallest going for $3,664 and the largest for $15,376.

The city is continuing its efforts to clean up unsightly properties. Weed liens were imposed on 15 different sites in the city. This allows the Public Works Department to mow the high weeds and grass on those sites. The city can get back the cost of doing this by imposing weed liens on those sites. The message is that it’s much cheaper for the property owner to have the grass cut himself.

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The council determined a violation and authorized action to clean up an unsightly residence on 49th Street.

The meeting began with a public hearing to receive comments from the community on two proposed rezoning requests. No one was there to speak in favor or oppose what was being requested, and the council approved both recommendations in the following regular meeting.

The rules were suspended, and both requests were approved after the first readings.

One request involves a 19.4-acre site at the end of 26th Street. The owner wanted to change what had been R-2 (medium-density residential) to FAR (Forestry-Agricultural or Recreational).

The land is bordered by property already zoned FAR.

The second request involved a 2.5-acre site behind the Triangle Service Station at Highway 29 and Ben Brown Road. The property owner wanted to change a C-2 (business) designation to RR (rural residential) so he could build a house on the property.

In consent agenda requests, the council approved four requests to permit the consumption of alcoholic beverages for some upcoming events at Lakeview Cabin, approved a request by Valley Police Department to declare three vehicles as surplus property, and approved the installation of LED lights in the parking lot at city hall.

Class reunions will be taking place at Lakeview on Aug. 19 and Aug. 26, an anniversary party on Saturday, Sept. 9, and an office picnic will be taking place there on Friday, Sept. 22. The VPD vehicles declared surplus include two 2018 Ford Explorers and a 2016 Explorer. All have at least 150,000 miles on them. Each can be sold to a high bidder.

The new LED lighting will be purchased from Industrial Service & Supply for $5,408.75.

An alcohol license was approved for The Bowlin’ Alley.

The council approved a five-year paving plan for city streets on the regular agenda. The list includes 28 streets and has a total estimated cost of more than $3.1 million. Major projects include the portion of Fairfax Bypass from the GFA trucking terminal to Givorns (approximately $500,000), the portion of 55th Street from King Road to Fob James Drive (just under $300,000), Valley Industrial Drive to Combs Road and Whitesmill Road (both just under $200,000).

Other city streets on the list include the entrance to Fob James Drive from Burney Road, a cud-de-sac off Burney Road, Lower Street, Middle Street, the boat ramp road in River View, GI Street, portions of 30th and 34th Streets, Lanier Street, 32nd Street, 15th and 16th Avenues, 31st Street, Booker Drive, Glass Road, Wimberly Drive, Chambers Drive, Greenberry Circle, Library Street, 49th Street, 26th Avenue, Margarite Street and 21st Avenue.

At the end of the regular session, the council met in an executive session to discuss pending litigation involving the Fairfax Mill property. The council took no action following the closed-door session.