Five properties totaling less than two acres are all that remain to be purchased at Burns Bottom for the long-awaited soccer complex.
County Attorney Tim Hudson said eminent domain requests have been filed with the county court, a court-appointed appraiser has been named by Judge Beverly Franklin and a date will soon be set to hear the cases.
The cases could take several months to wrap up while multiple owners and heirs are notified of the proceedings. Several heirs have yet to be located. If eminent domain is awarded by the court without the heirs coming forward to collect the appraised value, their land will be sold at 85 percent of the appraised value.
Meanwhile, preparations continue on the land which has already been purchased. City and county crews finished clearing trees from the land last week, and demolition is under way to remove a basketball court and strip asphalt from roads which will be removed to make way for the park.
Scott Hannon, owner of Triangle Maintenance Services and the president of the Columbus Lowndes Recreation Authority”s Board of Directors, sent a crew to the site to mulch the cleared trees. City Engineer Kevin Stafford said Triangle Maintenance will sell the mulch to Weyerhaeuser but won”t make a profit.
“They”re doing it as a favor,” said Stafford.
In addition to waiting on the last pieces of property, the county is waiting for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to acquire the wetland areas at Burns Bottom, and the city is waiting for the notification period to expire in order to burn several old houses on the site.
Stafford predicts the demolition work will wrap up around the same time the houses are cleared for destruction. Columbus Public Works Director Mike Pratt said the clay gravel or limestone beds below the asphalt will remain. Removal of the road beds will be included in contract work on the park.
Additionally, Columbus Light and Water has removed utility wires hanging above the site, which will be rerouted around the park.
After rejecting the initial round of bids in December, the recreation authority began advertising for a second round of bids yesterday. Bidding will close Feb. 24 and Stafford says contractors should be on board by the end of March.
The estimated base bid for the soccer complex has been whittled from $4.6 million down to an even $4 million, still well above the $3.2 million Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders says is currently available for the project.
The project will be re-bid by discipline, which Stafford believes will bring more contractors into the fray and lower costs. He says five contractors — four of them local — which did not bid in December have expressed interest.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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