Hartselle mayor says city hit homerun with property purchase

For the Enquirer

The city of Hartselle scored a home run with a recent property purchase and cleanup, according to Mayor Randy Garrison.

“We cleaned up an eyesore, we got a place for the fire station, and we got places for retail development,” the mayor said.

The city recently bought the 7.6 acres at Main Street East and Shull Road Northeast. Main Street turns into Alabama 36 and is near Interstate 65. The city bought the land for the fire station but anticipated retail development would bring additional tax revenue to spend on maintaining and improving the city, the mayor said.

The north end of the property is where the new fire station is going to go, across from the county engineer’s office, said City Planner Jeremy Griffith. The south end of it is going to be available for retail commercial development.

The city paid $1.05 million for 6 acres of the land and Morgan County donated the rest.

“Most of what the county donated is in a TVA right of way so there is not a lot of value in it,” Garrison said.

One of the first things the city did after the purchase is target the mess.

“We’ve already got rid of all the rundown buildings. We hauled I don’t know how many tons of trash out of there,” Garrison said.

He said the dilapidated buildings were located at one of the gateways to the city.

“One of the first things you see when you come in on Alabama 36 is that property, and everybody doesn’t know it was outside the city limits, they just think it’s Hartselle. So, it was really an eyesore for anyone driving into Hartselle,” Garrison said.

“It was just horrible,” council President Kenny Thompson said. “He (the previous owner) had junk piled everywhere and we bought that property from him to do the fire station and then have the commercial lots on the front of it.” He said many residents complimented the work.

“They’d say, ‘I’m glad y’all did that’ and ‘That’s the best thing y’all have done,'” Thompson said.

“People coming into town that was one of the first things they saw,” he said. “Now, if we can just get some restaurants out there.” He said Church’s Chicken owns property across from the site but they wouldn’t build on the property as long as the poorly maintained property was there.

“We’re hoping they will now go ahead and build out,” Thompson said. “It’s been cleaned up four to six months now. We’re very pleased with how it has turned out – something that will have a little bit of cash flow for us. Get some tax money coming in and we’re looking forward to getting that property taken care of. We’re looking forward to that property developing and getting us some money coming in on it.” Once the fire station is built there are still at least two lots on the front of the property that can be sold to commercial developers, the mayor said. The mayor was not sure of the precise value of the lots that are for sale.

The city contracted with a firm that markets the land for retail development, the mayor said.

“They are working to find someone to go on the property,” Garrison said.

The proximity to the interstate and all the traffic on Alabama 36 is what should make it attractive to retail, the mayor said.

He said there are “other good development sites – the city still has some property behind Cracker Barrell that we are marketing, which would be a great location for a hotel,” the mayor said. “There are also several sites on U.S. 31, though not city owned, that are available for retail as well.” He said U.S. 31 is where most people who call about locating retail want to be.

At a recent meeting, the council introduced the annexation and proposed rezoning of the city-owned property at Main Street and Shull Road. It also held a public hearing and final con-sideration of the requests to annex the property into the city and to rezone it to B1 commercial. There was no opposition from the public. Council members voted unanimously to annex and rezone the property.

Griffith said the request to annex 7.6 acres was a high priority annexation area in the comprehensive plan and that the Planning Commis-sion had recommended it with one abstention.

“You could have put improvements on the lots (available for commercial development) before. It had water and everything needed for development – it just wasn’t in the city limits,” Griffith said. “Typically, Hartselle Utilities does not do sewer if you are outside the city limits so bringing it in allows that.” Next step is the fire station, for which plans are underway.

“The architects are working on that,” Griffith said. “Then the frontage is being marketed to hopefully something retail that will be sales-tax producing, whether it be retail or restaurant or something like that. It’s right there by the interstate.”