Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

The Clanton City Council unanimously approved borrowing $5 million for purchasing and improving land for economic development during its July 11 meeting.

The council had voted to suspend the usual meeting rules to allow the vote to take place on the same night as the first reading of the ordinance.

Funds will be borrowed through the issuance of one taxable general obligation warrant series through River Bank and Trust.

The ordinance states that the debt service will be interest-only payments for the first year with the principal and interest being paid off in the 48 months after that.

The full ordinance is a public document, and it is available for reading at Clanton City Hall during regular business hours in the city clerk’s office.

Land was also a topic as the council considered vacating an undeveloped alleyway in the Rockett Addition Subdivision.

Property owner Jorge Henriquez said the designation of an alley was prohibiting a project on the site.

“We are trying to build four houses on the lots right there … (we) would not be able to do so because we have the alleyway,” Henriquez said.

If the alleyway was abandoned, all four houses could be built.

No one spoke in opposition of the change.

The council unanimously approved abandoning the alleyway.

Council members were also unanimous in their support of a one-year moratorium on billboard construction within the city limits.

At a previous meeting, Mayor Jeff Mims proposed prohibiting new billboards for a year in order to designate specific building zones where they could be constructed in the future.

The council also approved:

• Increasing the rezoning application fee to $400.
• A change order related to the Community Development block Grant project that removed abandoned, dilapidated houses.
• A donation to the Community Action Partnership of Middle Alabama.