MILTON — City staffers are close to terms with purchasing CSX’s property on the corner of Elmira and Pine Street.
With one nay vote from Councilman Alan Lowery, the council this month approved the $142,000 agreement.
Lowery, along with adjacent property owner Jack Sanborn, shared concerns regarding the price and whether the city would need the property.
“I would caution you against paying that price,” Sanborn said. “I just think that is a high price to pay.”
City Manager Brian Watkins said the less than 1-acre property would benefit the city’s Riverfront Master Plan, a development project that aims to boost economic and tourism activity in North Santa Rosa County.
City officials previously sought the CSX property to accommodate a new county courthouse downtown. However, the courthouse location is once again called into question following the primary election in which a sales tax referendum needed to fund a new judicial facility did not pass.
Watkins said the council could opt to not purchase the property, but the opportunity might come as a one-time deal.
“(CSX) said if we were going to even start this process, they wanted to know if we were committed to purchase it, if we could reach an agreement,” Watkins said at the meeting. “We went into a purchase agreement. We could always tell them we don’t want to do it. I think the opportunity for us to go down that well again will be completely closed and gone if we don’t deal with it.”
Lowery said the asking amount was not an “appropriate number.”
“If that is the amount they want, that’s fine,” Lowery said. “I just say they keep it for awhile.”
CSX initially sought $200,000 for the property, Watkins said in a recent interview.
He has said that purchasing the property would come with restrictions.
For example, a fence must be placed between the property and the railroad during construction. In addition, deed restrictions prohibit the property from residential use, only allowing commercial and industrial. Restrictions also don’t allow agricultural use where plants, livestock or any potable water found on the property could be used for consumption.
Watkins has said the city could renegotiate deed restrictions after finalizing the agreement. Once completed, Watkins said the property would be surveyed along with having an environmental assessment conducted.
For future use, Watkins said the city could use the property for parking or for buildings to support the Riverfront Master Plan.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Council favors purchasing CSX property