The Powder Springs City Council approved 5-0 on Dec. 7 two transactions to proceed with renovation projects of city facilities.
Tunnel Spangler will be paid $17,500 to prepare the schematics, plans and space analyses of the new city complex.
Also, Croy Engineering will receive $27,650 to evaluate and make recommendations about traffic, parking and transportation patterns and uses in the city’s urban redevelopment area.
In October, the Powder Springs City Council, by a 3-2 vote, passed resolutions to designate an urban redevelopment area and approve an urban redevelopment plan and urban redevelopment projects.
Those urban redevelopment projects include public buildings and public facilities.
Also in October by a 3-2 vote, the City Council decided to contract with the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to repay revenue bonds issued by the DDA to pay for renovating and expanding the existing municipal court building for use as a City Hall, Municipal Court, Community Development offices and other city infrastructure.
Dissenting votes came from Councilwomen Nancy Farmer and Patricia Wisdom who objected to referring to portions of the city as “blight” and said the community needed to be better informed about these decisions before the Council votes.
Voting in favor of these resolutions, Councilwoman Doris Dawkins and Councilmen Patrick Bordelon and Henry Lust did not offer comments.
During the October meeting, however, Powder Springs Bond Attorney Earl Taylor and Powder Springs DDA Attorney Fred Bentley presented an overview of the city’s new urban redevelopment powers.
Taylor said the main purpose for these powers is to allow the city to borrow at the lowest rates for potential future bond placements and for the lifting of some funding restrictions between the city and the DDA.
An overview of the term “blight” - used within Urban Development Powers - refers to how blight could include deteriorated or deteriorating properties or to prevent deterioration of a property.
Information: CityOfPowderSprings.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1655
