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Buckhannon considering $1.5M property purchase

BUCKHANNON — The City of Buckhannon is eying a $1.5 million purchase of five acres on Mud Lick Road that would give the Street Department room to grow.

City attorney Tom O’Neill presented a draft purchase sale agreement for the city’s acquisition of 395 Mudlick Rd. for $1.5 million from local businessman Mike Ross. This would include five acres, three buildings, all machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures on the property.

If pursued, the closing would take place no later than Dec. 31, 2020.

Director of public works Jerry Arnold explained the equipment and storage in the current building.

“A lot of the space we use is simply equipment storage,” he said. “Keeping that stuff inside increases the longevity of it. Currently, we do not have room to park that dump truck and some of the other trucks over there.”

There are repairs that could be made to the existing structure, but that won’t solve the storage needs, according to Arnold.

“If you were to upgrade all the mechanical systems in it, it would be a pretty sound building, I believe,” Arnold said. “To do that, you would probably surpass the 50 percent value of the building that we are allowed to put into the building being in the flood plain down there.

“The longevity of that building has been far exceeded,” he said. “Over the years, as the department has grown, it has been piece-milled together. “Right now, we just could not upgrade. We do not have the property to expand in any direction.”

Mayor Robbie Skinner gave an overview of the Mudlick property including the five acres enclosed in a fence and 44,000 square feet under roof of three building.

“As you recall, we have 18,000 square feet under roof down here at Factory Street,” he said. “Right across the road is the transfer station. The area where there is administrative offices can see both pieces of property which is important from a management standpoint.”

Skinner said the three buildings each cost about $1 million to construct.

“If the acquisition were to be approved, we would essentially be purchasing the buildings here for about $33 a square foot,” Skinner said. “The cost of new construction today would be roughly $130 per square foot.”

He also highlighted some of the equipment and furnishings that would come with the property.

“There’s a $300,000 crane included for the use of commercial welding,” he said. “The office space is complete with a conference room area. All of the office furniture is included in this deal. There are restrooms and locker rooms in one of the buildings.”

The mayor also pointed to ideas brainstormed for the future.

“Because there is such large amount of space out there, if Buckhanon continues to grow in a westward direction, this property has enough room to potentially incorporate substations for both our police and fire stations which would effectively reduce response times to residents and businesses that populate the area,” he said. “There’s also potential for training facilities for our fire and police if need be.

“If we did have a training facility, we would lower our ISO rating. The lower the ISO rating on insurance, the less businesses and residents pay for insurance premiums. There’s a lot of potential for this. It’s a great piece of property. I know that everyone who has been out there has been impressed by it. It has my support. I’m glad it has the council’s support as well for us to grow our streets and parks department in that direction and really not only expand but be able to carry out that department in the best way possible for a great facility. Thanks to Jerry and to Tom for all your work on this thus far. We will continue to push this forward for this to be our new facility.”

Councilman Jack Reger moved to adopt the text of the draft agreement and authorize Skinner to execute the agreement, which was seconded by Rylands and passed unanimously.

“The city will have to adopt an ordinance authorizing acquisition of the property and the city’s building commission will have to acquire and approve financing for the property,” O’Neill said. “If the council determines they want to proceed, the next step will be to convene a meeting of the building commission and begin that process.”

Councilman C.J. Rylands said, “When we consider that we were contemplating building one building for a new street garage and it was going to cost around $950,000, this acquisition with five acres of rock-base and three large buildings with heated floors, represents a lot of value. I strongly support the acquisition of the property.”

City recorder Randy Sanders said he has learned, “We ask a lot from our crews and they deliver above and beyond. For us to continue to do that, we need to give them not only the tools to do it but to make an environment that can continue to breed productivity.”

Skinner’s presentation from Thursday night can be seen on the city’s website at www.buckhannonwv.org.

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