11-04-2005, 01:52 PM
Let's not blow this chance, Birmingham. This needs to happen!
--------------------------------------------------------------
Vote set on plan to buy land for Red Mountain Park
Friday, November 04, 2005
BARNETT WRIGHT
News staff writer
The Jefferson County Commission will decide Tuesday whether to spend $7 million over five years to help purchase property for Red Mountain Park.
Commission President Larry Langford said the purchase would include enough rail lines for a possible trolley system across the 1,108-acre tract of land and also connect a 64-mile network of walking, biking and hiking trails.
Under the proposal, the county would enter into an agreement with the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust to help it buy that property, beginning with an initial $2 million investment from the county's general fund.
Several miles of existing rail beds line the property and can be used for trolleys to carry riders through the park and nearby communities, Langford said.
The property is north of Lakeshore Drive, running 4.5 miles from an eastern boundary along Montevallo Road to a western endpoint near the Bessemer city limit. It is owned by U.S. Steel Corp. and valued at $16.5 million.
The company has given the land trust two years to buy the land for $7 million.
Commissioner Bettye Fine Collins said Langford was making a unilateral decision.
"We have a five-member commission here. We don't have a mayor," she said. "So for a group to pitch this, for me to read about it in the paper as if it's a done deal is not the way I think we should operate. I was elected to be fiscally responsible for the county's funds. I don't know what our reserve fund is. I don't know where all of this money is coming from."
Langford said the money will come from annual property reappraisals, which bring $5 million into the county's coffers.
He said the initial $2 million payment is not due until October 2006, and the county will spend $1 million per year afterward.
"I love this because it has everybody's quality of life at heart and it sits in the heart of District 2," said Commissioner Shelia Smoot said.
The county's investment will make the project a reality, said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the trust. "It gives us the power to tap into the private-sector funding that is waiting and watching to see this happen," Jackson said.
E-mail: bwright@bhamnews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Vote set on plan to buy land for Red Mountain Park
Friday, November 04, 2005
BARNETT WRIGHT
News staff writer
The Jefferson County Commission will decide Tuesday whether to spend $7 million over five years to help purchase property for Red Mountain Park.
Commission President Larry Langford said the purchase would include enough rail lines for a possible trolley system across the 1,108-acre tract of land and also connect a 64-mile network of walking, biking and hiking trails.
Under the proposal, the county would enter into an agreement with the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust to help it buy that property, beginning with an initial $2 million investment from the county's general fund.
Several miles of existing rail beds line the property and can be used for trolleys to carry riders through the park and nearby communities, Langford said.
The property is north of Lakeshore Drive, running 4.5 miles from an eastern boundary along Montevallo Road to a western endpoint near the Bessemer city limit. It is owned by U.S. Steel Corp. and valued at $16.5 million.
The company has given the land trust two years to buy the land for $7 million.
Commissioner Bettye Fine Collins said Langford was making a unilateral decision.
"We have a five-member commission here. We don't have a mayor," she said. "So for a group to pitch this, for me to read about it in the paper as if it's a done deal is not the way I think we should operate. I was elected to be fiscally responsible for the county's funds. I don't know what our reserve fund is. I don't know where all of this money is coming from."
Langford said the money will come from annual property reappraisals, which bring $5 million into the county's coffers.
He said the initial $2 million payment is not due until October 2006, and the county will spend $1 million per year afterward.
"I love this because it has everybody's quality of life at heart and it sits in the heart of District 2," said Commissioner Shelia Smoot said.
The county's investment will make the project a reality, said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the trust. "It gives us the power to tap into the private-sector funding that is waiting and watching to see this happen," Jackson said.
E-mail: bwright@bhamnews.com