New London City Council eyes future development

By Karyn Spory, Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? Now that the plats have been plotted and the city has a line of people interested in building homes on West Adams Street, a subdivision that had been met with resistance from some members of the New London City Council, the council seems to have changed their tune and is hoping on the development train.

On Tuesday, the city had closed on a deal to sell 1.4 acres to the Overland Group, LLC for the development of a Dollar General.

With the good news, councilman Tom Davis said during the city council meeting he believed the city should look into constructing a sidewalk from South Pine Street to the West Adams subdivision.

?I think we should take the money from the sale (of Dollar General) and build a sidewalk on South Pine Street,? he said. ?There?s not much of a shoulder there and when the weather gets warmer people are going to want to walk.?

According to council members South Pine Street already has quite a bit of foot traffic, as Casey?s is located on that road. With Dollar General coming in, Davis said he would expect the foot traffic to increase.

The council agreed to look into constructing the sidewalk.

Davis also suggested the city look into pursuing an assisted living facility on South Pine Street.

?We have pillars of the community who have lost a spouse and they can?t stay living at home. They would like to stay in New London, but we don?t have a place for them to go,? he said. ?A lot of them are actually living next to each other in Mt. Pleasant.?

Councilman Kirk Miller said he has spoken with several developers and they see a need for an assisted living facility in New London, but the topic becomes a ?no go? when they find out the city would likely not construct the roads.

Years ago, according to former mayor Mike McBeth, the city was working with a developer to bring an assisted living facility and small medical complex to New London. However, one facet of the deal fell apart and before he knew it, the entire project crumbled.

?The biggest problem we had in the end, like Kirk addressed, was the city?s role in (creating) the streets,? added McBeth. ?Without the city making a definite commitment to sewer or whatever, it just kind of fizzled and it?s a shame.?

Councilman Greg Malott said he believes there could be negations as to what the city?s role would be in constructing some form of the complex. The council agreed to look into the idea.

Back to current projects, during the meeting the council members approved a process for selling the five residential properties on West Adams Street after a resident came into the City Office and placed 10 percent down ? earnest money ? on the first of the five lots.

Council members agreed they would prefer to sell the plots one at a time instead of selling several lots to one individual to speculate with.

Council member Dan Berner made a motion, which was approved unanimously, that the plots would be sold individually first. If after six months there were still lots available, more than one lot could be purchased by an individual. The lots will be sold first come first serve and would require a 10-percent deposit.

Looking into the future, Miller said he would like to be as proactive as possible in regards to the possible subdivision on South Pine Street. Miller said when it comes to placing sewer, electric and water lines, he would like the city to look beyond just the development on West Adams Street and take into consideration what it would take to extend those utilities in the future to South Pine Street.

?I want to make sure the sewer can handle those lots from Pine,? he said.

The council agreed future development should be taken into consideration when it came to placing utilities.