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By ZACHARY SEIFTER/ Staff Writer

 

The Chilton County Commission approved the purchase of another piece of property off Interstate 65, Exit 212 during its meeting on July 27.

The resolution to buy the property passed by a vote of 5-1. Commission Chairman Joseph Parnell and Commissioners Jimmie Hardee, Darrell Bone, Joe Headley and Randall Kelley voted in favor. Commissioner Allen Williams voted against the resolution. Commissioner Matthew Mims abstained from voting.

Rex Littleton sold the property to the commission for a price of $1.5 million. The land sits between the Ellison property and the Sue Hope property recently purchased by the commission.

This property was a critical piece needed by the commission to complete its plan of a development area near the Alabama Farm Center.

“If we don’t have the rights to that [property], our plan to fund the exhibition hall is going to be extremely difficult,” Parnell said.

Williams presented concerns that they were overpaying for the property. However, given that the Farm Center will break ground in the near future, the value of the properties in the Exit 212 area has increased, according to Hardee.

Parnell said that the $1.5 million price was the maximum the commission could pay for the property. Otherwise, according to NextSite, they would not be able to get their money back once they flip the properties to retail establishments.

The commission still has other properties that they are pursuing off Exit 212 for the development area.