CRESTVIEW — A local landowner wants to swap land with the city. The deal, if approved, would give Crestview equivalent acreage without its current restrictions.
The city's 2.6-acre plot, west of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce office, is part of a 25-acre grant presented under former Mayor George Whitehurst's administration. The first building constructed on the site was the post office. A subsequent donation was intended for a civic center, grantor Don Dewrell said.
“Originally, it was supposed to be three city buildings: the city library, the community center and a city administration building,” he said. The chamber of commerce office was later built under a land-use restriction waiver.
Dewrell said he plans to develop the wooded tract north of the civic center land, and wants to regain possession of the plot beside the chamber of commerce office. He offered to exchange the parcel for similar acreage across Farmer Street behind the Community Center. However, that plot is longer and narrower than the civic center plot.
The swap “would give the city a valuable piece of property that did not have restrictions on it in exchange for property that has restrictions on it,” he said Monday during a City Council workshop.
Currently, if the city built anything other than a civic building on the land, ownership would revert to Dewrell and his partners.
Council members said the city has no plans for the tract, which is used for impromptu children’s soccer games — which, Dewrell said, “is not an authorized use.”
Some city officials were concerned that, if the swap were approved, the city would receive property too narrow for some uses, such as a recreation field.
Councilwoman Robyn Helt, attending her last council meeting, favored the swap.
“If you have someone who works with a spirit of benevolence initially to help the city locate these facilities on the north side, the time has come to reciprocate that,” Helt said.
Fire Chief Joe Traylor, who is interested in locating a new north Crestview fire station in the area, said facilitating Dewrell’s development would contribute taxes and generate jobs while providing the city an unrestricted piece of land for development.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DEAL? Crestview could exchange restricted parcel for unrestricted property