Amidst the ongoing debate over funding for the Callaway Chamber of Commerce, members of the Fulton City Council passed several items of interest during their Nov. 26 meeting.
Blight
Two tumbledown properties, 607 and 609 Bluff St., were declared as surplus properties and authorized for sale by the city. The properties are zoned as residential, and the houses currently standing there will need to be demolished, according to the city.
A stormwater pipe runs between the two properties, so even if the same person buys both, they'll have to leave the easement intact.
Sidewalks
Council members voted to pass Resolution 3362, which authorizes Mayor Lowe Cannell to sign any documents necessary to apply for the Safe Routes to Parks grant.
"This would help enhance our ADA transition plan," interim City Engineer Kyle Bruemmer said.
This grant, administered by the National Recreation and Parks Association, gives cities up to $12,500 to help plan and implement improvements in the safety and accessibility of paths toward local parks.
"We'd spend it to develop a plan on what to do with our sidewalks to get the more compliant for folks with disabilities," Bruemmer said. "It's not a matching grant."
The city is required to develop the ADA transition plan by federal law. To apply for the Safe Routes to Parks grant, however, it will have to partner up with a nonprofit - the city can't apply on its own behalf.
"The Fulton Area Development Fund is ready to stand as a partner for the grant," FADF board member Kim Barnes declared during the meeting.
Parking spaces
Council members also agreed to the third reading and passage of Bill No. 1566, which makes some changes to parking requirements for development.
Businesses and homes are required to have a certain number of parking spaces, Planning and Protective Services Director Dennis Houchins explained at the previous council meeting. Many properties in Fulton are shaped oddly and don't have room to put in another space, which may dissuade some entrepreneurs from developing those properties.
"Currently, a garage doesn't count as a parking space," Houchins said. "It only makes sense to allow them to count as a parking space."
Changing that definition is the main purpose of 1566. Ward 3's Jeff Stone expressed some worry the change might result in more cars parking on the street at the previous meeting, but on Nov. 26, the bill passed unanimously.