City buys land at a bargain

The city will soon have about six acres of property in the center of town if all goes as planned, according to Mayor Jackie Crabtree.

The property, 6.11 acres on North Curtis Ave. is across the street from the post office and was offered to the city for $10,000, Crabtree said. The property, originally part of the Hale Trust, sold for $550,000 to current owner Gaines Dittrich, the mayor said.

“I’m really excited to announce this to you. Everyone knows the property that is in front of the post office where the townhouses were going to go. The owner of that property has approached the city and has offered to sell the property to the city for $10,000,” Crabtree told City Council members recently.

“This is a very good piece of property to put a park, a pavilion — it opens up a lot of opportunities,”

he said, adding that it could be used for the Hot Summer Nights Second Saturday events. The property consists of about 6 acres, Crabtree said. “This is just a fantastic opportunity and one that just fell in our laps.”

Crabtree said the property owner wants to keep about an acre and it’s being considered whether to handle that through a lot split or by waiving the lot split.

“We’ll get in there and clean it up — clear out around the trees,” he said, adding that with winter coming, maintaining the property will probably be all that will happen now, but later he hopes to add picnic tables and possibly host a farmers market and the Second Saturday events there.

“There are an untold number of things we can do with that,” he said.

At the regular City Council meeting in August, city officials approved a resolution approving the land purchase.