A group of family members living as close as Michigan and as far away as Paris all have one geographical location in common: 15 acres of land in Athens, Ohio.
That is, until legal formalities are out of the way this week, said Athens City Planner Paul Logue.
During the summer, members of the Athens City Council heard a presentation from Logue about purchasing this property on the south side of the city.
The family knocked a few thousand dollars off the price of the property, which was appraised at $58,000, Logue said. The sale price ended at $40,000 and several members of the Dowler family combined $15,000 to decrease the cost, making the final price tag of the land $25,000.
It has been less than two months since the original presentation, and the purchase process is almost complete. However, Logue said that isn’t the normal speed for this sort of transaction.
“We can’t just get real estate overnight,” he said. “You have to think forward, do planning — see there’s a potential for something to happen and try to get the chips lined up.”
Logue said he had been talking with members of the Dowler family for more than a year about purchasing the land before presenting to Council.
Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-at large, and other members of Council shared their support of Logue’s proposal.
“I think it would be a wonderful addition to the south side and the green space,” she said. “If we can work towards conservation easement that would be great, so we could have access on the trails.”
Conservation easement occurs when a landowner agrees not to develop a piece of land in exchange for getting a tax discount.
Acquiring this property is part of a long-term plan to add a wooded park area or a trail system on the south side of the city, Logue said. In order to achieve that, more money will have to be found for the project.
Even though the process could take almost a decade to complete, Logue remains optimistic.
“We’re a lot closer today than we were two years ago to seeing something occur down there,” he said.
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