Want a free home? The Development Authority might be able to help you out.
According to their monthly meeting last week, the DA is planning to give away a home, currently located on the Gardner site in the Industrial Centre.
Assistant to the DA Gwen Strickland gave an update on the pending removal of the home off of the site. She said the DA is going to use the home as a ‘giveaway’ to anyone in the community interested in having it.
"The home on the Gardner site is located right next to the Interstate Center on the north side, off Hwy. 280. Once we have the home off the site, we haven’t yet decided what the property will be used for. We haven’t gotten that far along with the plans," Strickland said.
While the deal might seem too good to be true, there are a couple stipulations.
Whoever takes the home must use a licensed mover who would be responsible for making sure the home is safely removed from the property. Additionally, a $1,000 bond will be set on the home’s current site, which would be paid in advance to ensure the property is properly cleaned up once the home has been moved to its new location. Strickland said she is not sure the size or estimated value of the home.
During the meeting, board member Steve Croy suggested that if a number of people are interested in taking the home, a bidding process could be initiated.
"But we’re mostly interested in just disposing of it and getting rid of it from the property, rather than getting into a bidding process," Strickland said.
Strickland said that the DA will hopefully move along with the details during their next meeting and should have more information about it at that point. Once everything has been decided, Strickland said there will be advertisements about the home.
Updates were given on several ongoing projects in the Interstate Centre:
- Interstate Centre property owner Jim Sineath’s original option has ended but the DA gave a $25,000 check to extend their options through March, Bacon said; Sineath said he is looking for a tenant before he begins construction.
- Marty Daniels had already received a proposed land draft contract which he made changes to and resubmitted; more changes were made by the DA and sent back to him and now they are waiting for a response from him.
- Roadway extensions from the front of the Interstate Centre are being worked on, with boundary surveys currently being done. The DA found out the Department of Transportation will not be funding two of the roads because of financial reasons and Bacon said she was not sure if they or the county would be responsible for footing the bill. Jones said the work should cost roughly $50,000 total, and the board consensus was to wait until after the surveys are completed and they have a true cost estimate before they make a decision.
In other business:
- Covenants and standards were briefly reviewed; Linda Barker said they need to hold a called meeting with all tenants to discuss the association fees. The covenant will give the DA control of making sure nothing goes into the park they don’t want – for example, if one proposed company falls through, the landowner can’t simply do whatever they want with it. Developers, companies, etc. have 18 months to get started on their proposed project and 36 months to complete their proposed buildings. The DA has the right to purchase the property back, for the same price they sold it without interest, if new development fails to meet those requirements.