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Farmland evolution continues
Published Wednesday, March 31, 2004
By Benjamin Dipman, Tribune staff writer
One goal Paul Sparks wanted to accomplish before ending his tenure as city manager was securing the title of the former Farmland foods site.
He's almost there, but not quite.
"We're trying," he said. "There are no serious objections (from owners or their attorneys), just paperwork."
After Farmland closed and gradually inched closer to bankruptcy, the owners kept switching attorneys, Sparks said. Every time they had a new attorney, Albert Lea attorneys had to bring them up to speed on the specifics of the land.
But Albert Lea is closer to owning the site than they have been for a while.
"We have a purchase agreement," Sparks said.
Along with ownership comes one advantage and two responsibilities.
The advantage is the piles of gravel leftover from the site.
Officials plan to sell the gravel to contractors to be used for construction purposes.
At about $8 per ton, Sparks expects sales will make approximately $400,000 for the city.
But the city also has to deal with cleanup which occurred when a former dry cleaning company dumped chemicals on the site and sale of the land.
Four phases will be involved with cleaning up the land and the city is in phase two.
The first phase involved a preliminary study of the land, such as size and type of earth.
The second step identified specific problems within the site, while the third clearly defines those problems and methods of resolution.
The last step is to clean the site, which could cost about $150,000, Sparks said.
City officials are also trying to sell the site. A recent offer by Walgreens drug store to buy a portion of the site was turned down by the city council, eliminating the possibility of Walgreens on the Farmland site, but leaving all of the land for an establishment that might utilize more space.
Sparks recently sent a letter to Walgreens officials and is awaiting a response, but he said they could be interested in another location in town.
"We'd be glad to work with them on other locations," he said. "There are a lot of locations that they are interested in."
(Contact Benjamin Dipman at ben.dipman@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)
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