Clarkesville City Council members voted Monday to abandon W. Marion Street. The move is the first step in a plan to allow the First United Methodist Church to use the street and better link their existing buildings with the former Habersham Bank location.
The next step will be to assign a price to the narrow strip of property so the church can purchase it from the city. This was a sticking point for Council Member Leigh Johnston, “I’m 100% for what the church wants to do and appreciate them keeping a presence in downtown Clarkesville,” she says. “I just feel like the taxpayers need fair compensation.”
The city paid to maintain the street for decades but, according to City Attorney Janney Sanders, the government may not actually own the right of way. “This street was abandoned by the city in 1962. We can’t find anything that says it was ever re-conveyed back to the city,” Sanders explains. “I’m not sure we have a formal right-of-way after 1962.”
Records searches by the city and by the church have turned up no evidence that the City of Clarkesville ever regained ownership of the street but Sanders urged council to proceed with the vote to vacate, “to assure the church that there is no claim by the city to that property.”
The issue will come back before council once staff figures out how much the church will have to pay, “Whatever price or appraisal they come up with,” says Council Member Franklin Brown, “we’ll have to bring it up at another time and approve the valuation.”
