Listen to City Council Members Monte Montgomery and Joe Whatley Talk About AEDC Land Deal
By Michael V. Hannigan
The City Council unanimously approved an Athens Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) plan to purchase 95 acres of land at Monday night’s council meeting.
The land is adjacent to the current industrial park on Enterprise Street and will cost about $859,000, or $9,000 an acre. It is split into two pieces; one tract is north of Furturematrix and the other tract is south of Howard Measurement.
AEDC Executive Director Brian Malone said the EDC board had been working on the deal for nearly a year and needs the land in order to be competitive with other area cities when it comes to attracting businesses.
Monday night, Malone also told council members that there was an “immediate need” for the land because of a local business looking to expand, although Malone did not identify the business.
Previously, Malone had said Athens currently has about 6 acres available for economic development, while other cities have 200 acres or more that are already developed with roads and utilities.
When Malone first spoke to the council about this issue last week, some council members had concerns. Monday night, Malone spoke for nearly 10 minutes answering those concerns from utilities and drainage, to the immediate need for the land, to the EDC’s debt structure.