October 20, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
The City of Smithville has reached a settlement with a landowner in its efforts to acquire property for the development of a parallel taxiway at the airport.
According to Mayor Josh Miller and Airport Manager Joe Johnson, a property owner the city previously could not come to terms with, Eugene Minnear has now agreed to sell his land to the city for $40,755. Minnear had earlier been offered $35,150 (appraised value) for his property, 4.37 acres but Minnear rejected it at that time and made a counter offer of $152,950. Minnear’s property is an overgrowth area that only has an old barn on it. Two other landowners with which the city was in negotiations, Aaron Tippin and Ronnie Mack Davis had already agreed to accept the city’s initial offers; $38,025 for the Tippin property ( parts of four lots) and $1,050 for Davis’ land (part of one lot).
During the last city council meeting on Monday, October 1, the aldermen voted to have Johnson and City Attorney Vester Parsley visit with Minnear again to renew negotiations, but they also voted for the city to begin eminent domain (land condemnation) proceedings if the negotiations broke down.
Now that the city has paid for and taken ownership of all the properties involved with recorded deeds, it can now apply for a 100% federally funded grant of up to $4.6 million to pay for construction of the taxiway project.
The city had already secured grants with a 5% local match for appraisals, survey, and environmental work and to purchase the properties but in order to receive the federal grant to build the parallel taxiway, the city was required to have ownership of all the properties where it is to be located. If all the land were not acquired soon, the city might have missed deadlines for obtaining the grant and could have had to wait another year before making application.
Although Minnear would have been compensated for his property at an amount ordered by the court had the city chosen to proceed with eminent domain, Mayor Miller and Airport Manager Johnson said the city did not want to take that route and they are grateful to Mr. Minnear for his cooperation.
“We were able to get this land without going through eminent domain. Mr. Minnear met with us and was very agreeable with helping the city. We came to a good agreement giving him the maximum amount allowed under terms of the grant for land purchase. I also want to thank the city council, city attorney, and mayor who all cooperated with me in this effort. I think Mr. Minnear is happy with the settlement and I know the city is happy,” said Johnson.
Mayor Miller said the city made the right call in renewing negotiations with Minnear instead of proceeding with eminent domain right away.
“I want to praise the city council for voting the way that they voted in the last meeting. Our airport manager Joe Johnson has done a great job. I have probably met with Joe ten times over this. I want to give a lot of credit to our city attorney Vester Parsley. I also want to thank Mr. Minnear for coming to the agreement and helping the city. I think everyone is going to prosper from this,” said Mayor Miller.
Johnson said if the city were to receive the $4.6 million federal grant there would be no local match other than 5% of the engineering costs which should not be more than $20,000 to the city. The city must now work on a design of the project to determine the actual costs.
“We have two or three more steps to go through. I have to present the plans at a Tennessee Aeronautics Commission staff review meeting followed by a power point before the TAC commission. We have to do a 30% design on the taxiway. Then we are eligible to apply for the federal grant to build the taxiway,” said Johnson.
Should the city get the federal grant, it will likely be 2020 before construction begins on the project.
The FAA awards airport improvement program discretionary grant funds across the country to primary and non-primary airports for infrastructure projects such as runways, taxiways, aprons and terminals.
Johnson said a parallel taxiway will make the airport much safer and enhance economic opportunity for the city making it more appealing to potential new industry.