LAUREL HILL — The city and residents would benefit from abandoning a 20-foot easement, the City Council said.
The city has not maintained an easement between 4th and 3rd Streets, between Sunnyside and Chicago Avenues, in 50 years, Councilmember Larry Hendren said.
"The city has never claimed (the easement), never cleaned it up and it has no benefit to the public," city attorney Dan Campbell said.
Abandoning the easement also would benefit the city, Mayor Robby Adams said.
"It would be deeded back to the adjacent landowners, so we will actually receive taxes on it," he said.
Property owner Tony Weekly likes the deeded-back-to-adjacent-landowners part.
"I own property on both sides of the easement: four lots on one side and five lots on the other. They would join if that easement wasn't there," he said.
All nearby property owners must sign a petition before city officials can adopt an ordinance to abandon the easement, Campbell said.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: City officials: Abandoning easement would boost tax revenues