Birmingham Water Board Delays Locust Fork Land Sale
August 14th, 2009The Birmingham Water Works Board voted Friday to delay until next week a decision on selling 3,200 acres it owns on the Locust Fork River. A majority on the board voted to stay the vote because they had not been given enough information, and the process had moved along “too quickly.”
Those in favor of tabling the sale were David Herring, A. Jackie Robinson, III and Sherry Lewis. Objections were levied to a delay by Anthony Barnes, Chairman of the board, and Mayor Jim Lowery.
The real estate committee had recommended that the board accept a $4.25 million offer from Jeffrey Todd Palmer, a Tuscaloosa businessman. His amended, higher offer came in after the advertised deadline. Members of the board who weren’t on that committee said they hadn’t had time or adequate information about the sale to make a decision today.
The Black Warrior Riverkeeper non-profit group had urged the board to sell the Blount County land to the state’s land preservation program, Forever Wild. It was originally purchased for a plan to dam the river and build a drinking water reservoir, but the board abandoned that plan in recent months.
“Whether the board chooses to sell this land to the highest bidder, or give Forever Wild a chance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper will work hard to ensure this property and the river are treated properly,” the group’s executive director, Nelson Brooke, said after the meeting.
Following the meeting next Wednesday, the board will hold a meeting on Thursday to make a decision on the sale.
To keep up with the board’s meetings, the public can check this Web page.
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August 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
The Birmingham News has now decided to cover this issue, but will they come out with a straightforward editorial demanding that the Water Board stop this bidding war to sell to the worst polluter they can find?
The board needs to slow down and rethink and allow Forever Wild to buy this land to protect it. If they don’t, maybe it’s time to re-investigate the members of the board to detail the connections from this land buy to the proposed beltline highway interchange land.
This is clearly a corrupt land deal and somebody is trying to benefit from it — and the highest bidders clearly do not have the Locust Fork environment in mind.