McCORDSVILLE— The last standing property on 600W will soon belong to the town of McCordsville to make room for new improvements such as roads and trails connecting to McCord Square.
The property up for discussion at the McCordsville RDC meeting on Jan. 2 was at 7595 N 600W, the last house on the east side of 600W in that area, which sits right by the creek. Tim Gropp, town manager, said at the meeting that this property is mostly in floodway and there is very little that can be done on it.
Gropp explained that when they go to purchase property there is a specific process that they have to go through. Gropp said that they have to motion and pass a resolution to authorize the purchase that is the average of two appraisals.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time … the 1% exception, they reject that which is very normal because the average of two appraisals — even though it is supposed to market value, it typically is not,” Gropp said.
When a counter offer is offered, they will come up with a resolution if they want to accept that or not, often coming to an agreement in the middle.
Gropp said at the meeting that the house causes some issues due to it having an easement for electricity that only serves that specific house and two sewers, and by acquiring this piece of property now, it would get it out of the way for use in future projects.
Gropp said that on Dec. 29, Rebar was able to acquire the property and have a “gentleman’s agreement” that the town will be the owner of it.
As CR 750W and the four lanes on CR 600W are worked on and redone, they would need the house and easements out of that area.
Gropp said that the property was bought by Rebar Development at an estimated $300,000 and the appraisals are only at $195,000, but “it is what it is to get the property in this case.”
Rebar, the current owner, will demolish the property and some surrounding trees, working with the town to identify what they wanted cleared on the property.
After demolition, Gropp said they will purchase the property from Rebar. At the Jan. 2 meeting, Gropp said they didn’t have the exact price yet for the purchase of the property, but that it will be about $340,000.
“Now, with that being said, the RDC is not going to pay that full number,” said Gropp at the meeting.
Some of the money will come from the park impact fees, due to this property ultimately being transferred to the parks department and the town managing the piece of property.
“The parks will hold it because there’s not, again, not much you can do with it because it’s all in a floodway,” Gropp said.
Despite being in a floodway, Gropp said that the plans are to have it be a clean property with a trail that will go in that area, a connector to McCord Square.
Gropp said they are most likely going to regain some money from the county’s drainage board, with them reimbursing the town for some bank work along the area due to portions of it eroding and the need to flatten out the bank.
Gropp said that with money from the park impact fee and the reimbursement amount, they are right around the average of the two appraisals in the end.
Gropp said the resolution is basically stating that the town will offer Rebar Development the offer of the average of two appraisals, which is at an estimated $195,000.
Gropp said that they will reject the offer, and that it will most likely be the purchase price with demolition cost and any caring cost, which will equal approximately the $340,000.
The estimated timeline for an agreement with true numbers is Feb. 6.
The RDC board motioned and passed the resolution which will allow Gropp to offer the first purchase price.
