Since the election commission closed the Cherry Hill precinct some members of the county commission have expressed an interest in selling the property. But in order to do that the county will have to file an application with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to remove a deed restriction and purchase the 0.24 acre lot.
More than three decades ago, the state deeded the lot to the county at no cost but included a provision that requires the county to use the property “ for public purposes for the benefit of DeKalb County citizens”. The county later built a community center on the lot and still owns and maintains the facility although no one uses it anymore.
“At one point, it served its purpose but interest in the community center has declined to the point where no individual or group uses it anymore. The county maintains and upkeeps utilities, mowing, etc of the entire facility at taxpayer dollars with no use by its citizens. The building is also in need of repair. In the summer of 2011 there was an effort from several individuals in the community to revive the center but there was not enough interest. They made a web page when they tried to revive it. They had tee shirts printed up. They had meetings and tried to have a barbeque to raise money but there was no interest. That was the last organized effort by the community dealing with the center. We have had nobody call wanting to rent or use it,” County Mayor Tim Stribling told the county commission during a committee meeting Tuesday night.
“I looked on the property data map and it still shows the (Cherry Hill Community Center lot) on the state right of way. I called the Department of Transportation in Chattanooga and they looked back on the deed. Although the state deeded it to us (county), DeKalb County did not buy the property. Since the land must be used for public purpose for the benefit of citizens of DeKalb County according to the deed, we will have to go through the process of filing an application to the state and go before the excess land committee to ask for the deed restriction to be removed. In order to do that the property will have to be appraised and we will have to purchase the property. Not the building but the lot. While the property belongs to the county, we can’t sell it because of the deed restriction. The state will send somebody out to look at the lot and if it’s valued at under $10,000 they will do an appraisal. If it’s valued at over $10,000 they will get an independent appraiser. They will only appraise the lot, not the building,” said County Mayor Stribling.
The county commission will discuss the issue again during the regular monthly meeting Monday night, November 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.
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