City Working to Sell Industrial Park Parcels
Council’s city council meeting was well attended Tuesday evening with standing room only. Several local citizen attended the meeting in order to hear about and/or voice their concerns about an industrial subdivision that the city is proposing to sell in one acre plots. This is what is now known as the Council Industrial Park and where Starkey Water had their operations. Right now, the land is one unit and a preliminary plat plan to split the land into lots with future plans to sell the lots individually was up for vote. Connie Humbert and Dustin Lane from River of Life Church spoke, asking the city to change the zoning of the land in order to make it possible for the River of Life Church to purchase one of the lots. The church members mentioned an interest in converting a building on one of the proposed lots into their church building. The River of Life Church is currently renting the senior center and it was pointed out that with a building of their own, the church will be able to better serve the local community. The reason the River of Life Church requested one of the proposed lots be rezoned is because churches are not allowed to be in industrial zones but they are allowed to be in commercial and residential zones. Danna Barnhart, a local Council resident, voiced her opinion questioning the cities surveying process. She also wanted to know why the city is selling the land and asked for clarity on what the money will be used for. Lastly, she asked that the proposal to sell the land be put on a ballot for the local citizens to vote on. Claude Canaday, a local Council resident, also spoke regarding his concerns and requested full transparency regarding the industrial subdivision be made available to the public. After voicing their concerns most of the people in attendance left the meeting.
Later during regular business, the city approved the preliminary plat and chose to keep all the lots zoned industrial. The city attorney, Geoff Schroeder, stated his concern that re-zoning the land would limit the use of adjoining properties and it was decided that it was better to keep all the plots zoned the same. A declaration of intent (Ord. 2025-04) was approved stating the proposed selling price of each plot. 503 N. Galena (minimum bid of $250,000), 101 Council Ave. (minimum bid of $235,000) and 102 Council Ave. (minimum bid of $250,000) will be offered to the county for sale or exchange. The county is currently deliberating this purchase.
The building at 104 Council Ave and a bare lot are being considered for exchange with privately owned commercial property of equal value.
City Clerk, Ashely Scott briefly stated that the money the city makes from selling the land will go back into the city but did not get into specifics on exactly how the money will be used. Later, in an email interview, she gave more details and shared that the money acquired will go into the business park fund. She stated, “Once the business park is dissolved, the funds will be transferred to the general fund and used for much needed equipment, updates to city owned infrastructure and property and hopefully road projects.” In answer to the question of why the city is selling the land, Ashley responded stating that the city council members decided that, moving forward, the city does not want to be in the land business or nor do they want to be landlords.
The airport project to resurface the runway will be 100% covered by grants and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) should be completing all their steps to award the grant within the next few weeks. There has also been a grant application submitted to replace the airport runway lights. The Chamber of Commerce requested that the city approve blocking off California avenue for a soapbox derby on July 5th. After much discussion, the city decided that it would be better to conduct the soapbox derby downtown on the hill in front of the museum since the road will already by blocked off for July 4th activities and it will not block residents from accessing their homes. Also during the meeting, the city approved temporarily allowing open alcohol containers in the blocked off downtown area from July 4, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. to July 5, 2025 at 11:00 p.m. Bill Brown, owner of Boardroom at Wilson’s, asked for a catering permit to serve alcohol in the downtown city park during the 4th of July activities and it was approved. Jerusha Goodwin requested a permit to add on to a property she owns and her request was approved. Finally, several ordinance amendments had the wording changed so that the ordinances are more precise. The changes were approved.
