By CHRIS MORRIS
What a difference a few years make.
Two years ago the North Annex and the 19 acres it sits on along Grant Line Road appraised for $6 million. However, two recent appraisals came in around $2.4 million, which adds a new twist into the ongoing saga on whether the county will keep or sell the property.
Floyd County Commissioners Steve Bush and County Council President Ted Heavrin blamed the poor economy for the low appraisal. However, if the county does not get the price it wants, the North Annex may be taken off the market. Bush admits a large retailer is interested in the property.
“We had to go back and get two more appraisals because we are talking about a price with a company,” Bush said. “We just need to see if it will be in our best interest to sell it or keep it.”
The commissioners and county council members are suppose to meet in executive session next week to discuss the matter.
“If we can get a good price out of it, yeah,” Heavrin said when asked whether the county should sell the property.
Bush said the money from the sale could be used to build a new youth shelter, which is currently housed in the North Annex.
Whether to build or relocate the shelter has been an ongoing discussion for several years. The county had already approved funding to build a new shelter two years ago only to halt those plans due to the recession and funding shortfalls.
Bush said while some have criticized selling the property, he said it may make the most sense. He said if the property is sold, Sam Peden Community Park would not be ruined. A buffer would have to be built between the business and the park.
“With Wal-Mart across the street, it is more of a commercial area,” he said. “We are going to talk to the council. We all have to be on the same page. When we do agree to sell, we are going to have to start paying for archeological studies.”
Bush and others think building a new shelter on the 4-H Fairgrounds property may be the best scenario. Heavrin, however, disagrees.
“They don’t have much room as it is,” he said. “But like everything it comes down to money.”
