After Lowndes County took a total of less than two acres of property in the Burns Bottom area through eminent domain, two property owners returned to the table, requesting the original appraised value rather than the court”s appraised value.
Friday morning, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted to pay Thomas Doughty and Mary Wright $2,000 and $2,500 for their land, respectively, rather than court appraised values of $1,200 and $2,300, respectively.
The city of Columbus, Lowndes County and the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority have begun work on a $4.26 million soccer complex in the Burns Bottom area, just west of downtown. Supervisors took the matter to county court when the owners of five parcels of land either refused to sell or it could not be determined who all owned the land, since the original landowner was deceased.
Other property owners involved in the eminent domain case were John Staples (the court appraised the property at $675; the initial appraisal was for $1,000); the V and S Petersons Trust (the court appraised the property at $2,000; the initial appraisal was for $2,500); and Renata Jennings (the court appraised the property at $2,000, the same as the initial appraisal.)
The remaining property owners can petition to be paid the initial appraised value. Otherwise, they will be paid the court”s appraised value, out of fees already paid by Lowndes County.
The fields, which are currently being cleared by city and county crews, may have grass by July and should be ready for soccer in September.
Sidewalks and bridges will follow shortly.
In other matters, the board
Approved a litter-control grant in the amount of $14,852. The grant funds the litter control officer, who monitors illegal dumping and either finds the dumper to clean it up or reports is to the county for cleanup.
Approved a $48,693 Victims of Violent Crime Act grant to fund the district attorney”s victim assistance program.
Appointed Chris Griffin, owner of Southern Civil Contracting, to the E-911 board for a four-year term beginning May 15. Griffin spent six years with the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office and 13 years as a town marshal in Caledonia.
Heard from a Ridge Road resident about flooding problems. Ray Berry requested a ditch be dug and the addition of oversized culverts to relieve the problem since his property is “serving as a holding pond for everyone else.” District 2 Supervisor Frank Ferguson made note of a project started in the area that was held up when one family would not permit the county to dig through its land. Ferguson offered to start the process again and solicit the approval from the family.
Authorized county workers to explore options for relieving drainage problems in the Deerfield subdivision off Lehmberg Road and surrounding areas.
Approved a budget modification for a project at Stark Aerospace. The county had $184,593 left over in grant money from projects at the site and now plans to use the money for a drainage project there.
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