After a report given by Alexander City Attorney Lana Fraser, it is going to take a land surveyor to determine the location of the city park’s boundaries and how much of it is already owned by the city. Based on a warranty deed issued to the city in 2004 and a quitclaim deed issued in 2016 Fraser says it appears the 2004 deed has more acreage than the 2016 deed.
Currently, the city park is made up of two parcels of land. The western parcel makes up about three-fourths of the park and was deeded to the city by Douglas W. Loftin Jr. and his wife Cindy Loftin in 2004. It was also deeded to the city by the Arkansas Land Commissioner for unpaid taxes in 2016.
According to the Saline County Assessor’s Office the smaller eastern portion is owned by David W. Jacks. Saline County records show the Loftins sold the eastern portion to Jacks in the year 2000.
“It’s quite possible you may have a color of title,” Fraser said. “The Loftins could by accident deeded both to Mr. Jacks and the city the same little spec of land.”
This discovery was brought about while researching a solution to a property dispute between the city and Jacks. The eastern end of the park is the location of the gazebo and water fountain. Based on the Saline County property map this parcel starts at Highway 111 and ends between the last two rows of the parking lot. The remaining three-fourths of the park follows Crooked Creek and ends at the city boundaries to the west.
The city had been mowing the grass on the eastern parcel for many years. As far as anyone knew it was city property. The improvements made to that area were done from 2015 to around 2019.
That’s when Jacks contacted Mayor Paul Mitchell asking about the now completed improvements on his property. According to Mitchell he tried to negotiate a resolution with Jacks but they were all basically one-sided, due to Jacks’ refusal to respond to any offers. Mitchell had even hired a real estate lawyer to no avail.
The previous city attorney was attempting to negotiate a purchase of the property before she resigned her position. Fraser believes Eminent Domain is the more viable option.
Her research has also uncovered documents that show Jacks had lost ownership of the property twice due to non-payment of property taxes. He then regained ownership twice after paying restitution on the overdue taxes.
“It’s understandable you thought it was city property,” she said.
Fraser was given permission to hire a surveyor to determine the true location of the boundary lines and to do a title search. Surveying the property, based on the 2004 warranty deed, and conducting a title search will provide the city a legal starting point.
Also at the August 16 meeting:
City property tax remains at 1.5-cents
The Alexander City Council approved the annual resolution establishing the city’s real estate and property tax rate for the next taxing year. The tax rate will remain at 1.5-cents. What would normally be a tax rate of 5-cents was gradually reduced in exchange for a one-cent sale tax increase, which was approved by voters in November 2017.
Planning Commission report:
No vote on zoning ordinance needed
Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck told council members they won’t be voting on a zoning ordinance at this meeting. Huck said the zoning hearing for My Ample Storage was held prior to the commission’s regular meeting on August 10. No one from the public attended the hearing, either for or against, the request for a zoning change to Highway Commercial for a 1.73-acre piece of property annexed into the city in 2018. My Ample Storage is located along Highway 5 west of the intersection with North Alexander Road.
Since there were only two commission members present, Huck and commission secretary Tonya Prowse, Huck said they did not have a quorum to hold the follow-up planning commission meeting. A quorum is three.
At that meeting the commission would have voted on the recommendation to send the zoning request to the city council for final approval. Huck added he had the city attorney pre-approve the ordinance in expectation of having it on the agenda for the council’s August meeting. He said he will attempt to schedule a special meeting of the planning commission, hopefully for August 24.
Having the quorum wouldn’t have done any good, however, since there were only four council members present at the city’s August 16 meeting. Attending the meeting were Joe Pollard, Joy Gray, Juanita Wilson, and Lonny Chapman. Mayor Paul Mitchell served as the quorum and was required to vote on all motions.
The mayor could have done a first reading of the ordinance, but that would have been all he could do. It’s required an ordinance be read at three separate meetings. To override the second and third reading requires a two-thirds vote of the council. In this case at least six council members would have had to be present. It also requires a two-thirds vote to pass an emergency clause to allow an ordinance to go into effect immediately. A mayor cannot vote as part of the two-thirds. Either way, the next chance to vote on the ordinance would have been the council’s September meeting.
Verizon cell tower coming to Alexander
In the next two years a Verizon cell tower should be going up in Alexander if the site recommendation makes it through the communications company’s own approval process. Huck says he was contacted by a representative who says they found three acceptable sites in the city. The A-choice is in the woods at the end of Mountain Circle. Mountain Circle intersects with Mountain Drive which is possibly the highest point in Alexander.
Huck noted the property is zoned AG-1 (Agriculture) and transmission towers are allowed under conditional use. He said once Verizon approves the site they will have to go through the Conditional Use Permit process.
Survey preliminary version released
Council members received the preliminary version of a survey, written by Metroplan, to review before it is distributed to city residents. Surveying residents is the next step in the writing of a master development plan.
Council member Joe Pollard was impressed with the comprehensive nature of the questions.
“It will be a big help to the city,” Pollard said of the survey.
Once Metroplan puts the survey into a final form the process of distributing and collecting will have to be organized. Once that is completed Metroplan statisticians will tally up the results based on survey answers.
Mayor given sole control of BigRed project
At the request of Mayor Paul Mitchell, the city council gave Mitchell approval to make all final decisions concerning the construction of a BigRed on the north corner of Cornerstone Road and Hwy 111 in order to “expedite” the project. This means the normal process of architectural drawings being approved by the planning commission and then the city council giving final approval will be bypassed.
At this year’s January 25 council meeting Mitchell told council members he met with the engineer assigned to build the BigRed. He said they have calculated the property’s dimensions and are in the design phase of the project. Even though the property is zoned for that type of business, it was understood at the time the design will still have to come before the planning commission with final approval from the city council. So far no plans have been brought to the commission.
“I don’t want to aggravate these people and have them move someplace more friendly,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell asked for, “The authority and the power, from the council, to make sure it gets done, gets expedited.”
He says they can have it built in two-and-a-half months.
Joy Gray made the motion and Lonny Chapman seconded.
Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck then asked if the commission was being bypassed.
“We’re not holding things up because they haven’t brought us anything,” he said.
“The city council has the final authority on that (whether projects get approved),” Mitchell said. “If anything comes up we want to make sure I can solve the issue.”
All four council members and the mayor voted to approve the motion.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, September 20 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.
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