By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – The Leeds City Council voted to declare a church that was destroyed by a fire to be a public nuisance to begin a process of cleanup during a meeting on Monday, Feb. 5.
The church was an abandoned structure on Ashville Road that caught fire on Jan. 21, leaving it irreparably damaged. It was previously known as Leeds First Baptist Church and Pathway Baptist Church.
In order to clean it up and make the area safe it needed to be declared a public nuisance, said Mayor David Miller.
A public hearing was held in which a charter member, Amanda Courson, spoke. She said that she had been a member ever since she was a child.
“And I never left. And I never gave up on the church,” she said, adding that she and other charter members reportedly had contributed to its upkeep after it was no longer in use.
While she did not dispute that the church needed to be cleaned up, she said that she and the other members wanted to do it themselves as long as they were recognized as owning the land the church had stood on. She also said that she and the other charter members had found a contractor that was “more than able” to do the work.
Miller said that they would not be able to recognize them as owners until their legal counselors could confirm it.
Councilman Johnny Dutton later questioned if the charter members had the money to perform the work, citing $50,000 as an example. Courson replied that the contractor would have accepted an estimate of $15,000 to $22,000 and expressed confidence that it could be paid for.
Councilman Kenneth Washington similarly questioned the feasibility of having the charter members pay, as well having liability insurance and said that the cost would be quite a bit more. He supported moving forward with declaring it a nuisance, noting that the damaged structure poses a danger to the public.
After further discussion the council unanimously passed the motion. Courson asked if the members would not be able to clean the remains of the church themselves.
“The only thing that we voted on tonight is to declare that property a public nuisance,” Miller replied. “We’ll proceed legally from there.”
Prior to discussion of the church, Miller presented a $500,000 check to the Leeds Board of Education to be used for the renovations of the athletic facilities.
Among the upgrades are a new field house, restrooms, concession stand and others, as well as to fix a ditch drainage problem.
“As I’ve been so fortunate to say over the years the city and the board over the last 15 years or so – we’ve invested $60 million in academic facilities here in Leeds,” said Superintendent John Moore. “And this is the absolute last piece of old and tired – I can tell you, as taxpayers you’ve gotten your money’s worth.”
He hopes that the project will take off during the fall season.
In other business the council:
- Declared a property on Montevallo Road to be a public nuisance,
- Read a proclamation declaring Feb. 29 to be Leap of Kindness Day and presented it to Leeds Chamber of Commerce Director Sandra McGuire,
- Approved $2,400 to buy a police substation table and chairs for training,
- Authorized repairs to the Leeds Train Depot in the amount of $13,470.00
- Approved up to $13,000 for repairs to the City Visitor Center,
- Tabled discussion on a tax abatement for C&B Pipe for a future meeting.
Meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of every month at City Hall on 1400 9th Street Northeast. Agenda packets can be seen online at the City of Leeds website.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.