Toccoa Selling Property on Whitman St., Calling for Proposals

A piece of City-owned property is up for sale.

At their regular meeting Monday night, City Commissioners voted to declare property at the corner of Whitman St and South Tallulah St surplus.

During their work session prior to the regular meeting, City Manager Billy Morse told the Board three groups have already expressed interest in purchasing it.

“The Whitman Street Alumni Foundation wants to do a parking lot and a memorial to the Famous Flames,” he said. “Mt. Zion Church is the most recent. They have twice shown an interest in it over the past five or ten years, and the Hope Center has shown an interest in it,” Morse said.

According to Morse, the City purchased the property in the 1980’s with a plan to put in a City parking lot, but those plans never materialized.  Morse said currently, the City has no use for the property and recommended the Board consider selling it.

But the question arose regarding what use of the property would be a good fit for the City.  Mayor Gail Fry recommended asking for proposals.

“We can do something like an RFP and see what people might want to do with it,” she said. “We can move forward from there and after some discussion decide which one meets the greatest need or would be the best for all concerned.”

Now that the property has been declared surplus, the City will advertise in the Toccoa Record for proposals from interested buyers.

No timeline was set for when the Commission would make a decision after reviewing proposals.