The restriction, administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, prevents developers from cutting curbs to gain access to their property.
Northwest Georgia Bank Senior Vice President for Retail Sales Tom Mastin, developer Bassam Issa, and Terry Taylor, of Atlanta-based Mirabeland Investments, asked the Cleveland City Council to use bond proceeds for the LIC North connector road to purchase the right of way on both sides of streets inside the developments.
The streets in the development would be built to city standards and the city would be responsible for maintenance. However, the developers would accept maintenance responsibilities and that provision would be attached to the property deed.
In return, both developers would give the $732,000 it would cost back to the city. When LIC North is completed, the city would be reimbursed for the $732,000.
“There is one catch, which is the 20 percent match the city has to put up,” Mastin said. “The developers have proposed to pay that 20 percent cost. Both developers have proposed to pay for the appraisal of the road right of way, which is about 1.6 acres.”
If the appraised value is less than $732,000, the developers and the bank would pay the difference.
“The city would only be paying what the roads are valued at, and in return, the money would come back to the city, the city would pay it to TDOT and when LIC North is complete, the city gets reimbursed that amount,” Mastin said.
Removing the restricted access would facilitate development of the 14-acre Planned Unit Development that was once described as an eyesore by a former Council member.
Currently, the only access to Mouse Creek Crossing from Paul Huff Parkway is a right-turn-in and right-turn-out. Both developers want the restrictions removed in order to gain full access to attract larger retail tenants they have been in discussion with for the past six to 12 months.
The next step after gaining full access is that Issa and Mirabeland would seek a traffic light.
Taylor said there is no right-turn-in/right-turn-out to the property on the north side of Paul Huff.
“It is critical for our development to get in and out,” he said. “We have no access to Paul Huff at this point.”
This is the second time Mastin and Issa have approached the City Council about devising a plan to remove the access restrictions. Under the first plan, the city would have been out $100,000.
This time, Mastin said removing the restriction would not cost the city any money.
City Manager Janice Casteel has said the only source of money she could think of was the LIC North project, the local interstate connector on the north side of APD 40 that would connect the new interchange to the northeast quadrant of Exit 20 of Interstate 75.
That connector road is estimated to cost $825,000. It will be funded through a bond issue Cleveland City Schools will repay. The school system owes the city money because of an agreement when Mayfield Elementary School was built.
