UPDATE: OK, so the whole premise of my original post was wrong, as noted to CSD’s Bruce Roaden in the comments.  A new Public Works building would actually serve as a joint MAINTENANCE facility with the city.  Not an administration building. Oy.

My apologies.  So here’s my revised – and much shorter – post.

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Tonight, the Decatur city commissioners took quite a few steps forward towards finalizing the bond projects that will finance the city’s Rec Center, Fire Station #1 and Public Works facility.  They designated the “Redevelopment Area”, finalized the Urban Redevelopment Plan, “activated the Redevelopment Agency”, and  agreed to lease-purchase the property adjacent to the current Public Works facility for $1.1 million.

And as for that public hearing: well, only one resident spoke up.

The only remaining step – accepting the bonds and the bond rate – will take place on December 15th.

If that generic plan name in the post title has you thinking that the Decatur City Commission is planning to regress back to its ideas of the early 1970s and redevelop all of Decatur ala Le Corbusier (Dammit!  I said more towers! More giant, lifeless parks!), you can rest assured that this public hearing has nothing to do with anything like that.  (Does anyone have first hand accounts about some of the towers the city wanted to build around Church Street in the 1970s that freaked the population out and sent the then-City Manager packing?  I’d love to hear some of those.)

Instead, this public hearing concerns the city’s plan to designate two city properties as “urban redevelopment areas” so they are eligible for financing through the Federal Government “Build America Bonds”, which include a 35% subsidy from the Fed on interest paid.  The two properties under consideration for redevelopment using the program are the Fire Station #1/Rec Center property between Sycamore and Trinity, and the Public Works property on Talley Street. You can read through the proposed plan HERE.

So, if you have issues, joys or concerns to express to your commissioners about either of these projects, clear your calendar for Monday, December 6th and be heard as a member of the public.  (I assume it will take place BEFORE the city commission meeting, but I’ll have to check with the city – as the press release does not specify.)

There had originally been talk of including the undeveloped “Trinity Triangle” site in the redevelopment area, but City Manager Peggy Merriss tells me that they decided not to include it at this time, and can always go back and add it later “if it makes sense”.