Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones announced during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, that action on a request to vacate a Lot in the Southern Heights Subdivision Second Addition would not be taken during the meeting. Instead, he said the matter being sent to the Community Development Committee for further discussion, because the “Language was not quite right.”

Southern Heights II Subdivision. (Courtesy Don Sonntag)

Local developer Don Sonntag asked if there would be a timeline for the transferring of the street vacation. Jones said there would need to be a date set for a public hearing after the matter comes back from the Community Development Committee, and the hearing held before any further action could be taken. Sonntag said he has two units “spoken for,” but he can’t get started until the vacating of the street is approved.

In a letter to the Council, Sonntag said the City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning Commission “Has thoroughly discussed, reviewed and unanimously voted twice that [the] street easement is not needed, and the layout [he] presented to them was discussed for approval.” Sonntag Development, LLC is considering building a total of more than 30 condominium units over a period of time, which he says would bring in a minimum of $215,00 in tax revenue annually for the City. He said “…if [the] land is not vacated, [the] project will not proceed.”

In other business, the Council set October 1st as the date for a public hearing on the disposal of City properties located at 1200 Birch and 1106 Poplar Streets. The lot on Birch Street is vacant, while the other property has a house on it. After the public hearing, the person who buys the property on Poplar Street would be responsible for tearing the house down. Mayor Dave Jones also set October 31st as the date for Halloween trick-or-treating. The hours are from 5-to 7-pm.

And, the Mayor made mention of efforts to bring an electronics recycling service to Atlantic. The company would bring a tractor trailer to the community that would allow old TV’s, microwaves, computers and other small electronics for free drop-off and recycling. It would cost about $5,000 to bring the service to town for a limited time. The Public Safety Committee would be responsible for coordinating the date and times. Donations to help pay for the service will be solicited from public sponsors, and maybe the Community Protection Committee. More details on the program will be released later.