The City of Danville is looking to buy some 200 properties throughout the city. The Public Works Committee Tuesday approved the plan to purchase 146 vacant pieces of land and 60 properties with sub-standard structures.
The land would come from the tax sale of the Vermilion county Trustees. The properties have not paid taxes for several years. City engineer Sam Cole says the city wants to control the property for several reasons.
The land also is in areas where Danville knows of future storm sewer projects. Also it is hoped some of the parcels can be banded together for development.
Mayor Rickey Williams says if the city doesn’t purchase the parcels, they will be bought by someone who is not interested in improving them.
The purchase of all this property would cost the city 184 thousand dollars.
The committee also okayed spending 44 thousand dollars for a study of downtown parking needs. Operations Administrator Dave Ruwe says a firm would examine the current parking system
City officials hope the study will help develop a plan to improve parking to help downtown business and customers in the future.
The committee’s actions go to the full city council next week.
