Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VALLEY — The Valley City Council on Monday held a second reading and approved an ordinance to sell a 12.3-acre site off Fob James Drive to Willow Capital Partners, LLC for $583,665. The property is located next to Valley Collision and would appear to be a prime site for future development.

Willow Capital Partners, LLC is a privately held commercial real estate firm in the Atlanta area that is focused on developing, acquiring and investing in properties across the Southeastern U.S.

It would appear they have plans to develop the site in a way that will more than get them back their initial investment of more than a half million dollars. The land they are acquiring is located a short distance away from I-85 and on a five-lane highway. It would appear to be an ideal site to build a new shopping center or strip mall.

Village Square, located on Highway 29 across from Walmart, is planning a major expansion. According to the developer’s website, some of the new retail locations that are coming include Five Below, Marshall’s and Petsense. More small shop space ranging from 1,500 to 4,500 square feet will be available in the new addition that will be going up behind Dairy Queen. What makes this location especially attractive is that up to 20,000 vehicles a day pass the site every day.

Monday’s meeting began with a public hearing to confirm the cost of abatement at a site on Morgan Street and another location on Columbus Road. Code Enforcement Officer Adam Roberts told the council that the cost of the Morgan Street cleanup had been set at $7,100 and the Columbus Road cleanup at $7,400.

Cindy Bonsignori was there to speak on behalf of her sister, Sheri Aleman of Valley Home Services LLC.

“There should be no cost at all,” she said. “The site should not have been condemned, much less demolished.”

Bonsignori said her sister was not in town when action had been taken on the demolition. “She was in Florida being tested for a possible kidney transplant,” she said. “I have taken this on on her behalf. I don’t believe this was a nuisance property. I got here on March 14th to look at the property, and it had been demolished.”

Mayor Leonard Riley asked Roberts if all the proper steps had been taken before the structure was town down and the site cleaned up. He said that it had been done the right way. This involved a directive being given on March 11th, work starting at the site the next day and the work completed on March 19th.

The Columbus Road site is owned by Jonathan Hicks. An abatement directive was issued on it on March 25th. Work began on a cleanup the next day with work being completed on April 8th. A private contractor, C.H. Hall, did the cleanup work for the city. The owner was in Taiwan at the time.

In a unanimous action, the council confirmed the cost of the two abatements in a seven-item consent agenda. Other items on that list included budget amendments for insurance recoveries, leasing some vehicles and replacing a damaged traffic signal located at the intersection of Fairfax Bypass and Ram Stadium Drive. The insurance recoveries come to $37,312. The expenditure for the leased vehicles for the police department is listed at $192,114. The traffic signal on Fairfax Bypass was damaged when hit by a truck. It will cost over $77,000 to have it replaced. Insurance will cover more than half of it with the city having a portion of $37,312 to pay. This includes the installation of a decorative traffic signal pole, a luminaire arm and light, a five-head traffic signal, a three-head traffic signal, a pedestrian signal and a push button, installing a traffic signal cable to the new heads and connecting the new signal to an existing traffic signal controller.

The council also approved the consumption of alcoholic beverages at a retirement party at Lakeview Cabin on June 15th.

Valley Parks & Recreation Director Laurie Blount invited everyone to Friday’s opening of the Valley Farmers’ Market. “I am really pleased with the participation we will be getting from our farmers,” she said. “More than 10 of them will be there this Friday. We will be open from 3 to 6 p.m.”

The farmers market is located underneath the pavilion in front of the Langdale Mill site.

Blount said that swimming lessons were currently being offered at the Community Center and would continue through the month of July.

Council Member Jim Clark thanked Public Works Director Patrick Bolt and the men of his department for removing some trees that had come down in a recent storm. “We had 11 trees down in my district following that storm,” Clark said.

Clark added that he had been getting some complaints about tree limbs and yard waste not being picked up by the curb.

City Clerk/Treasurer Cathy Snowden reported an ending balance for April at more than $11.5 million.