Council approves land sale to Shasta County Head Start

On a recommendation from City Manager Dana Shigley, the five-member Anderson City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday, July 20, to adopt a resolution indicating the city's intent to sell city-owned property located on Veterans Lane to Shasta County Head Start, Inc.

Formally known as Veterans Park, the 66,000-square-feet of property is roughly equivalent to two residential parcels, Shigley wrote in her background briefing.

Originally owned since 1946 by Shasta County for the purpose of constructing small homes in which veterans could live, the land was used for that purpose for many years but later the structures were abandoned and fell into disrepair, she said.

Since the county had neither the cash nor the desire to maintain or improve the property, Shasta County deeded it to Anderson in 1985 at no cost and with no strings attached, Shigley said.

In 1996, Anderson leased the property to Shasta Head Start, which provides day care services in some portable buildings it acquired, Shigley said.

A recent appraisal of the property, conducted at the request of Shasta Head Start's Operations Director Gordon Chatham, found the property's value to be $130,000.

"Chatham has made an offer to purchase the land for that amount," Shigley said. In turn, the city and Head Start have agreed to split the appraisal fee and all closing and escrow costs, which would reduce the city's net proceeds to $128,000, she added.

While the council was unanimous in its decision to sell the property, a decision on how best to use the money may prove more difficult.

Going by brief statements made by each council member during the meeting, James Yarbrough and Melissa Hunt want to use the total amount raised by the land sale to help offset costs of developing a Veterans Walk of Honor in downtown Anderson.

Long-time incumbents Butch Schaefer and Keith Webster are just as adamant to split the land-sale's proceeds and spend half on paving Volonte Park's parking area near the city-owned Skateboard Park and the other half spent on the Veterans Walk of Honor.

In other business, the city council unanimously approved spending $30,000 from a Planning and Technical Assistance Grant on a professional services agreeemnt with LSC Transportation Consultants, Inc., of Lake Tahoe, Calif., to conduct a transit study as a first step in removing Anderson from the Redding Area Bus Authority system.

The grant requires a $6,300 cash match that will come from Program Income funds, Shigley said.