Sat, Jul 05 2008
|
|
Published May 20, 2008 08:50 pm - The Joplin City Council has voted against the sale of city property to a downtown religious organization, which offers substance-abuse rehabilitation and other services to the poor, after hearing objections from downtown business interests. Council nixes sale of property to ministry By Debby Woodin dwoodin@joplinglobe.com The Joplin City Council has voted against the sale of city property to a downtown religious organization, which offers substance-abuse rehabilitation and other services to the poor, after hearing objections from downtown business interests. The council, in a split vote Monday night, decided against an ordinance that would have sold three city lots at 513 S. Kentucky Ave. to neighboring Watered Gardens. Watered Gardens is a nonprofit organization that intended to build a faith-based, residential rehabilitation center on the property. The council’s action came after the panel had rejected a previous Watered Gardens bid last year on the same property and then had placed the current bid on hold. Objections to the sale came from Terry Hicklin, owner of The Candy House, which has a manufacturing and retail operation across the street from the property, and from Rob O’Brian, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. There were two bidders for the property. Hicklin bid $33,500, and Watered Gardens offered $40,694. Hicklin told the council that he bid 10 percent over the appraised value of the lots, which was $30,500. He intended to build a parking lot for his candy business, he said. O’Brian told the council that he appreciates the work that Watered Gardens does, but that the council should consider keeping the land and possibly using it for a parking lot. He said there is a shortage of parking in that area of town. He also said the council should at least wait until after a proposed summit meeting on the homeless issue in Joplin can be conducted. Such a meeting was proposed after another ministry had asked for a zoning change to accommodate a homeless shelter at a former warehouse on East Seventh Street. The council rejected that request. No date for the summit has been set, but officials have said they are gathering information toward a discussion on the issue. James Whitford, the founder of Watered Gardens, told the council that this is the second time the city has backpedaled. He said the ministry was the high bidder last year when the city put the property up for sale with the former city Health Department building still standing. The city sought those bids intending for the buyer to demolish the old building, but declared that none of the bids met that requirement. The city opened bids on the property, with Watered Gardens the high bidder, on Feb. 11. Councilman Jon Tupper, who voted Monday night to deny the sale, had said earlier that the deal wasn’t done until the council approved it, but that about the only thing that would stop the sale would be if Watered Gardens didn’t have the money to complete the purchase. “To me, personally, I would have to have more of a reason than being selective about what is going in there to not approve it,” Tupper was quoted as saying in February. “As long as we’re protecting the taxpayers’ interest, I think it’s OK.” 
•
Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
More from the Joplin Herald section
Area residents celebrate Fourth with family picnics, Freedom Fest Missouri highway officials release five-year project list Hospital abandons nonprofit bid |
Print this story
E-mail this story
Post to del.icio.us
Discuss this story
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
The Joplin Globe Publishing Company 117 East Fourth Street, Joplin, MO 64801 Using our site is your agreement to the terms and conditions. News: news@joplinglobe.com • (417)623-3480 Advertise with the Joplin Globe Copyright © 2006 The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO All rights reserved. |
Popular Business directory links - Joplin Apartments | Joplin Attorneys | Joplin Auto Dealers | Joplin Auto Parts | Joplin Auto Repair | Joplin Beauty Salons | Joplin Car Rental | Joplin Dentists | Joplin Doctors | Joplin Flowers | Joplin Hotels | Joplin Insurance | Joplin Loans | Joplin Mortgages | Joplin Movers | Joplin Pizza | Joplin Realtors | Joplin Restaurants | Joplin Storage | Joplin Tax Preparation | Joplin Travel | Joplin Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service 
|