George Leibold, of Bold Demolition and Excavating in Springfield, addressed New Carlisle City Council at their July 15 meeting, and offered to demolish the old Madison Street School.
Leibold offered to demolish the school building for $100,000, provided that he receive title to the property. He said that he would maintain the property as long as he owned it.
The city had requested quotes to demolish the building several years ago, and the estimates ranged from $250,000 to $350,000.
The property contains approximately 7 acres, and is valued by the county at over $700,000.
Leibold said that he plans on developing the property, unless someone came along and wanted to buy the property to develop it before he was able to.
"We would keep it available in case someone came along and could move along a little quicker than us, maybe to put up a little housing," said Leibold.
There is asbestos in the building, and the city has received estimates of $30,000 to remove the asbestos. Leibold said that he would have the asbestos removed for an additional $25,000.
Council member Bill Cook asked if the debris from the building would be crushed on site or moved in bulk. Leibold said that all debris would be removed to one of three available landfills in the area.
No action was taken on Leibold's proposal.
Council also passed an ordinance to make changes to the plans for the new city building and to pay the architect an additional $8470 to make those changes.
Council had agreed to remove Council Chambers from the building plan. The chambers submitted by the architect had a seating capacity of fewer than 50 people, and council agreed that the planned capacity would be insufficient for many council meetings.
City Manager Randy Bridge reported that reconstruction of the 300 block of Galewood Dr. began on June 8 and is expected to take 80 days to complete. The price of the reconstruction is over $300,000, but the City's share is only $41,400.
He aso reported that resufacing of Hemlock, Butternut and Bittersweet has been completed at a cost of slightly over $45,000. That cost will be paid entirely by the City.
"We have repaired streets in the city at a rate that we have not seen in previous years," said Bridge. He thanked the citizens and council for approving street repairs that have been made at a rapid pace.
Bridge also informed council that the Board of Zoning Appeals will be meeting Wednesday, July 17 at 5:30 p.m. to hear requests for four zoning variances.
One of them is from the new owners of the former Belle Manor Nursing Home. The new owners plan to develop the facility as an apartment building. The request before the BZA will be to reduce the required number of parking spaces for potential residents. He said that some of the parking for the building is being leased to the New Carlisle Community Health Center. If the request is denied, the owners of Belle Manor will end their lease with the Health Center, and the Health Center will have to find new parking facilities.
The next meeting of the New Carlisle City Council will be held on Monday, August 5, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. at the Smith Park Shelter House. The public is welcome to attend all meetings of the New Carlisle City Council.
