By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Town of Davis Council was approached by Gina Puskas and her husband about a property the couple are looking to purchase in the Town. The property comes with eight unimproved lots along 7th and 8th Streets. “There are six lots on the unimproved portion of 8th Street, that are behind the address 429 7th Street,” Puskas said, “and we are wondering if infrastructure could be brought to those lots.”
When asked what she intended to do with the lots, Puskas said she planned to sell them. “We’re hoping to sell them, if infrastructure is available,” Puskas said.
There is currently no infrastructure to the area, according to Puskas. Council Member Doug Martin said that water would be available from 7th Street, however, sewer was not available to the area. The house currently in the area is the only in the area on septic, but septic would not be an option to any new construction in the area due to Town Code, the Council said. The current house was grandfathered in for septic, but Town Code did not allow for septic in Town limits.
There was also discussion of the need for investigation as to any mine locations in the area prior to any development. Discussion also revealed that should the Puskas pursue sale of the lots, they would be responsible for development of the area in much the same fashion that the Riverwalk Development had been with water and sewer installed prior to the sale of the lots. “If you’re going to develop that land you just bought, you’re going to have to put infrastructure all the way in,” Martin said.
Puskas was also informed that she would be required to put her own road into the area should she sell the lots. “See, that’s why it all gets expensive,” Puskas said.
Martin said sewer to the area would be determined on what the capacity of the treatment plant would be following completion of the Town’s sewer improvement project. A final determination on capacity would not be available for two years. “We ain’t going to know that for I’m going to say two years,” Martin said. “Then after the first couple good rains we’ll know exactly how good that did for the town. If not we’ll have to go to Plan B.”
Puskas said she had reached out to Western Pocahontas to see if they would be interested in the lots, should they purchase the property. According to Puskas, she anticipated a response in a couple of weeks. The Puskases have not yet purchased the property.
