Dana Grady and her husband currently have a contract with John Pesterfield for purchase of the land.
Pesterfield is a developer who approached the Gradys to find a retailer to purchase the property. The land is 1.3 acres on the corner of Bell Road and Dalton Pike. Pesterfield approached the couple in August 2011.
“We have a contract with him that will expire May 31,” Grady said.
Grady said a retail location on the site would bring jobs and revenue to the area, and would not have a negative impact on aesthetics.
She listed several reasons she wanted to sell the property.
“I have small children and I am right there on the busy [intersection] of that soon to be five-lane highway. The house is 58 years old, it needs a lot of work done to it. ... I myself plan on staying in the community, too. Because my children go to Waterville and they love Waterville,” Grady said.
She said selling the property would help them in dealing with a recovering economy.
What kind of retail business will be housed on the site has not been determined, but Grady said Pesterfield has assured neighbors it would not be anything that would bring them concern. The sale and rezoning have not been finalized.
When the property owners began considering selling the land, they contacted their neighbors on Bell Road, the Fannins, and offered them a purchase option. The house and property had once belonged to the family, but both were sold 18 years ago.
“Out of respect for his (Thomas Fannin) late father — because his father had told us on numerous occasions before he passed away ... that he wanted the house back because the house was built in 1954. It’s sentimental to them and I get that,” Grady said.
Fannin, who lives on property next to Grady’s land with his mother, said in a Bradley County Commission meeting Monday the price the Gradys want for the land is more than he could afford.
In an interview Thursday, Grady said if the deal goes through with Pesterfield her family would get more for the land than what they asked their neighbors to pay.
After the Fannins declined to buy the property, the Gradys moved forward in the process with the developer.
Grady said Pesterfield has also mentioned intentions to request a traffic light at the intersection of Bell Road and Dalton Pike.
Pesterfield placed a rezoning request on Jan. 31, according to the Bradley County Planning Office rezoning request. Grady said the contract had been signed a few days before.
“After we had already signed the contract, (the Fannins) said, ‘Hey, we want to know if this person that wants to buy the house, if he would sell us the house and let us move it,’” Grady said.
Since the contract was already signed, the neighbors were told they would have to talk to the developer after the deal was finished.
The Bradley County Commission will make a decision on the rezoning request during the voting session Monday.
“I would like to encourage all the commissioners to ride down through there,” Grady said.
She said she would also want the commissioners to look at the situation from her side and the opportunity it would give her family.
