Council accepts $265,000 bid for
former child shelter property
By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com
The Elizabethton City Council voted 7-0 Thursday night to accept
a bid of $265,000 made by local dentist Phillip Gilmer to purchase
the former Emergency Child Shelter property located at 208 Parkway
Blvd., near the corner of West G Street.
Phillip W. Gilmer submitted the sole bid to purchase the property.
The city set a minimum bid of $250,000 for prospective bidder
to meet. The approval is subject to the property being rezoned
to R-2, medium density residential. In a correspondence to the
city, Gilmer states that the rezoning will accommodate dentist/doctor's
office.
The Emergency Child Shelter ended operation in July 2002 after
the state declined to renew its contract to house at-risk youth
at the shelter. The property's ownership reverted back to the
city once the shelter closed. The site had been publicly discussed
as a future site for the Early Childhood Learning Center of
Elizabethton City Schools.
In other business, the city has been advised to change its plans
to relocate the Doe River water transmission line by the engineering
firm overseeing the project.
The City Council voted in October to hire the J.R. Wauford &
Co., Consulting Engineers firm to direct design and construction
of a new transmission line that supplies 30 percent of the city's
drinkable water from the Hampton spring source. After initially
suggesting the new transmission line be attached to the George
Brown Bridge on U.S. Highway 19E, Wauford & Co. recommended
the city pursue an "open trench" to place the line through the
Doe River in a memo received by city officials in December.
Before engineers can make a cut in the river to relocate the
line, the city must secure an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit
and get regulatory clearance from state and federal agencies
including the Tennessee Valley Authority, Tennessee Department
of Environment and Conservation and U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
"They are proceeding with the (permitting) process," Elizabethton
City Manager Charles Stahl told council members.
The city had sought potential grants from the Tennessee Department
of Transportation to construct a linear path bridge to locate
the new transmission line. However, no TDOT grants are presently
available.
The city and engineering firm have met with representatives
of TDEC, TVA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering in October
to discuss the logistics of the line's relocation.
"Anytime you get into the river to do a cut, an Aquatic Resource
Alteration Permit is necessary," said city Planning and Development
Director David Ornduff.
The Flood of 1998 effectively destroyed the 14-inch water transmission
line in the Doe River to the Hampton spring. The city constructed
a 16-inch water line across the abandoned bridge in 1998 when
all indications were that the bridge was stable.
The Hampton, Valley Forge and Big Springs sources supply the
city with potable water. The Hampton spring provides one-third
of the city's potable water. While the water line itself is
functioning, the line extends 240 feet across a decaying bridge
crossing the Doe River on the abandoned Highway 19E.
An evaluation report released by Wauford & Co. consultants
in September found the bridge has suffered heavy decay since
1998. Wauford consultants found that the bridge was experiencing
a "very rapid deterioration, is somewhat unstable and could
possibly fall in the immediate future."
City Council also voted to passed a resolution approving the
purchase of the Willis L. Kimbro property at 205 Academy St.,
under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's grant program
for properties lying in a flood plain. The property will be
purchased for $30,000 with funds being reimbursed to the city
by FEMA. A grant from Housing and Urban Development provides
the city's 12.5 percent match of the FEMA grant.
