Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: News

City Council member Larry Rennels explains to the audience at the City Council meeting some of the conclusions that he has come to in regards to Lake Island tract houses having their lease renewed in 2009. Rennels explained that in addition to doing research on the matter, he also has spoken with many Charleston residents ,through telephone conversations and email, and thought thoroughly on the lease issue before stating his decision at the City Council meeting at City Hall on Tuesday evening. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

Lake Charleston Island Tract resident Dave Durham of 17681 Lake Charleston Loop, addresses the City Council during the public presentations portion of the City Council meeting held at City Hall on Tuesday evening. Durham had the opinion that the city and the residents of the Lake Island Tract should work together in making the area a place that both residents of the area and other Charleston residents can enjoy together. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

City Council member Jim Dunn would be the only member to vote to renew the leases of the properties around Lake Charleston if the council were to vote on the issue.

At Tuesday night's meeting, the council held a discussion on the properties of Lake Charleston.

In 1992, the council voted to set all of the leases to expire in 2009 and to include in those leases a provision that stated the leases would not be renewed.

That means after 2009, the tenants of the properties would have to leave the area.

Each council member expressed an individual stance on the issue during the discussion, but a vote was not taken.

Mayor John Inyart said tenants of the Lake Charleston property wanted to get the council's stance on the issue and that was one of the reasons why the council decided to address the issue at the meeting.

"I just felt we could work with the (residents) that are there and tune-up the leases that are in place," Dunn said. "That they could co-exist with anything else that we might want to do in the future as far as recreational use."

Inyart formed a committee and held a public hearing in front of the Board of Zoning and Appeals after the tenants came to him a year ago.

The committee made a recommendation to return the land to recreational use, but the board took no action.

Council member Lorelei Sims said she would not renew the leases because the council has to look out for the interest of the city.

Sims, Inyart and City Council members Jeff Lahr and Larry Rennels agreed that property tax and water treatment was a factor in the decision.

"The overall cost to maintain the subdivision is a concern to me and the subdivision needs some major improvements," Inyart said. "We just can't afford to do it based on that kind of an income. There is no up side for the city."

Gale Poteete was one of four citizens who commented during the public session after the discussion.

She said she does not have a problem with paying property taxes on the lot around Lake Charleston and she does not believe the tenants are polluting the water.

"If they wanted to buy it so we could move somewhere else, we would be open to do that, but they don't want to do that," she said. "They just want to throw us out and make us pay for tearing our places down."

Sims entertained the idea of putting the issue of the agenda and to take a vote on it, but the council concluded that 2009 is too far away to make a decision on the properties.

"It's not over by a long shot," Poteete said.


other action:

-The council voted to continue revising the keg permits and Inyart said he was pleased with the progress on the revisions.

-The council voted to place the fiscal budget for 2007-2008 on file for public inspection. The budget is estimated to be around a total of $24 million, but Inyart said the council has not had time to look it over the budget in detail. The 2007-2008 budget will be addressed at the next council meeting.

-The council voted to place the increase of water and sewer water rates on file for public inspection. The council wants to improve the quality of both and that is why the rates need to be adjusted.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.

Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.

Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.

If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.