The Independence City Council voted Monday night to begin the process of acquiring a tract of land adjacent to the city sign to prevent it from being developed in the future.
Officially located on Pelly Road off KY 17, the land is between one and two acres in size and is located near Summit View Academy. Coupled with roughly 25 acres the city recently purchased on the opposite side of the road, Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman said, the acquisition will ensure the main entryway into the city remains “permanently green.”
The council cast its vote in favor of the acquisition after a brief discussion in closed session. An independent appraisal of the land put its fair market value at $85,000, the amount the city has agreed to pay.
City Attorney Jack Gatlin made it a point to say the land’s current owner is a vendor with the city, hoping that doing so would prevent the city from running afoul of the county’s ethics regulations.
Gatlin said he wanted to make sure it was “in the record that we are acquiring property from a vendor of the city, and that we have gotten an appraisal of the property, that we are acquiring it at the appraised price, that it is in the best interest of the city to acquire this property because of the use that we want for it, the protection to the city, and it’s just merely coincidental that it happens to be a vendor of the city. That has nothing to do with any of this.”
Reinersman went on to say the city decided to begin negotiations after it learned the owner had put it up for sale and that a potential buyer who wanted to build a single or double-family home on the site had expressed interest.
“The concern with this all along has been this is the front door of the city,” Reinersman said, later adding the acquisition was a “clear public benefit.”
The vote to acquire the property was unanimous.