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VALLEY — The City of Valley is in the process of selling a 26.7-acre site off King Road to be developed into a new subdivision. At Monday’s meeting of the city council, a first reading was held of an ordinance to sell the site to Landkart LLC for $329,001. The sale can be approved following a second reading at the Feb. 26 council meeting. Landkart has plans to build 47 single-family homes on the site.

Handcart LLC is an Alabama domestic limited liability company that filed on Oct. 11, 2022. Kalpesh Bhandari is its registered agent.

The council suspended the rules and adopted on a first reading an amendment to the sales agreement it has with the Bennet Group LLC, which plans to develop a 56-unit senior housing complex off King Road. This will be a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) project. The action was approved on a first reading because Bennet’s HUD application must be in by the end of February.

The council approved a contract for Webb Utilities & Construction, of Wadley, to do water and sewer line work on 30th Street. Webb’s bid of $435,608 was the lower amount of two competitive bids. They will be extending water and sewer lines along 30th Street from the Pine Forest Congregational Christian Church toward the river.

“It will open the area for future development,” Mayor Leonard Riley said.

The city owns a large tract of land near the river between old Shawmut airport and EAMC-Lanier Hospital.

Prior to the Feb. 26 meeting, a public hearing will be taking place to consider a request to rezone a 256-acre site off 30th Street from its present FAR (forestry, agriculture, recreation) designation to R-1 (low-density residential). That public hearing will be followed by another public hearing to confirm the cost of cleaning up properties on 2nd Street, King Road, School Street and 18th Avenue.

The council approved a five-item consent agenda. These actions included determining a public nuisance and authorizing action at a site on Bennett Street, declaring a police department drone surplus property, approving a budget amendment that would allow for the police department to purchase a new drone and battery kit for $6,157 and to purchase four new chairs for the council chamber at $3,300 and to permit the consumption of alcoholic beverages at two upcoming events — a March 21 meeting at Valley Community Center for the National Wild Turkey Federation and a May 11 wedding reception at Lakeview Cabin.

The council will be meeting in a work session at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22.

“We had the biggest sales tax month we’ve ever had in January,” Mayor Riley said. “We brought in over $935,000, most of it from what was sold in December. That followed more than eight straight months when we brought in over $800,000 each month. Business is really, really good in Valley, Alabama.”