City votes to buy, demolish downtown apt. building

Published 10:40 am Thursday, March 21, 2019

The City of Winchester voted to buy a downtown apartment building Tuesday, but not to become landlords.

The plan is to eventually demolish the building at 65 Wall St.

Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner said the owner of the property, James A. Adams, approached the city and offered to sell it for $20,000. The property was appraised at $49,000, he said.

Email newsletter signup

The ultimate goal, he said, is to remove “slum and blight” from downtown Winchester.

The building only has three apartments and may only have one current tenant, he said. According to police information, officers were called to that address more than 100 times in the last three years, he said.

The Winchester Board of Commissioners approved the purchase unanimously Tuesday evening.

Earlier in Tuesday’s regular meeting, Winchester Municipal Utilities General Manager Mike Flynn updated the commission on a number of projects, both completed and ongoing, by the utility. Near the top of the list is the new water treatment plant being built on Boonesboro Road near the Kentucky River. The $20 million project is about 35 to 40 percent complete, he said.

When completed, the plant will be able to provide 9 million gallons of water per day, a 50 percent increase from the current plant’s 6 MGD capacity.

It is scheduled to be completed around March 2020  through the project may be running a little ahead of schedule.

WMU’s current water plant is built is 1891. Once the utility transitions to the new plant, Flynn said the building will be used for storage.

In other action, the commission:

— approved a resolution for a tax incentive for Catalent Pharma Solutions.

— reappointed Bob Jackson to the Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation Board for a one-year term.

— approved the replacement of 10 streetlights on Shoppers Drive.

— approved an order to build a new ‘Welcome to Winchester’ sign from Hammerhead Signs and Promotions.

— accepted the retirement of Beverly Ackerman from Winchester Public Works.

— accepted the resignations of patient transfer specialists Shane Long and Tena Davenport.

— terminated the employment of patient transfer specialists Sara Rucker and Michael Jarman.

— hired Victoria Bordeau as a patient transfer specialist.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

email author More by Fred