By Lee Weyhrich
CLAY — The Clay City Council on Monday voted to abate six lots in the Paradise Valley subdivision affected by the Jan. 23, 2012 tornado that ripped through much of Clay.
According to the city of Clay’s Emergency Management Agency report, 98 structures were destroyed in the tornado. There were 241 with major damage, 194 with minor damage and 138 affected. Most of that happened in the Paradise Valley and Georgebrook subdivisions.
Many lots have been cleaned up but a number of vacant and overgrown lots remain.
With the vote to declare the six properties public nuisances and abate them, the city will cut the grass and clean up the properties. There are roughly 17 other lots in the Clay city limits in need of cleanup, City Manager Ronnie Dixon said.
The six properties voted on are currently the only ones that have met the 75-day notification requirements the state mandates for abatement. Even once city employees have cleaned up everything within the city limits, there will still be a lot of blighted areas, Dixon said.
“There’s a lot of these properties we can’t touch,” he said. “Even in Paradise Valley there are a lot of properties that were messed up by the tornado that were never annexed into the city. That becomes Jefferson County’s problem and they don’t have enforcement officers. They laid them all off.”
Last week’s storms, however, have rendered Bryant Park closed due to the outfield lights falling down. Dixon said the lights fell like dominoes as the wire tension from one pulled the next one over. The city council has been discussing renovations to the park, and Dixon said the damage likely saved the city expensive demolition costs.
The city council also voted to make the fourth weekend in February 2015 a sales tax holiday for storm preparedness items. Now rather than voting for the tax holiday each year, it will go into effect automatically each year unless future councils decide otherwise.
In other news, Councilman Bo Johnson said no companies have expressed interest in the soon-to-be former Winn-Dixie building on Old Springville Road.
“There are some rumors about some potential people that are looking into it, but at this time there is no one looking into that space,” Johnson said. “If you’ve heard rumors that Kroger or any other such grocery chains are coming in, that is simply not true.”
The Coco Bistro is also closing in Clay, but another unnamed company is ready to move in. The city council also voted to re-zone the area from Old Springville Road to Cougar Drive and from Deerfoot Parkway to Trussville-Clay Road from town center to highway commercial, opening up the area for more businesses.
In other news, Dixon put out a request for proposal for restrooms at Cosby Lake Park. The bids will be opened Nov. 3.
The Clay Library Committee is replacing two members. One board member is leaving the area, while the other is stepping down. Jackie Hambrick and Jane Anderton have been nominated to fill those positions.