GAINESVILLE – Time seems to be on the side of all parties involved as the City of Gainesville’s move to exercise Eminent Domain over a property on E.E. Butler Parkway was tabled Tuesday evening, once again, by the city council.
628 E.E. Butler Parkway has been the site of Pepper’s Market for over fifty years and owner Rick Gailey has consistently said he doesn’t want to sell the property; hence, the city’s move to exercise Eminent Domain.
The matter was initially scheduled for the April 21, 2020, city council voting session, but COVID-19 restrictions led city leaders to table the Eminent Domain resolution until May 19 - their reason being in part that postponement would hopefully provide a better health situation for the public to safely make comment on the city using Eminent Domain to acquire the site.
That four week delay has not been time wasted; it provided opportunity for parties on both sides of the disagreement to continue discussions, and those discussions are apparently bearing some fruit.
City Manager Bryan Lackey summed it up this way: “Because those discussions with the property owner are ongoing and productive, we’re recommending tabling this…until the June 16th (city council) meeting for consideration then.”
“I’m hopeful to come back before you in June to either say we’ve got a resolution or that we’ll table it again until July,” Lackey said. “This has been productive and we’re hopeful to avoid this action down the road.”
The city council unanimously agreed with Lackey’s recommendation and tabled the resolution to the June voting session.
