BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Lake Butler’s city manager asked Union County commissioners to consider selling a parcel of land that formerly housed a farmer’s market, so the city could build pickleball courts on the lot.
Kim Hayes pitched the idea to county commissioners during their May 19 meeting.
“We’ve had a lot of citizens approach me and the mayor about pickleball and a skate park in the community,” Hayes told commissioners. “So, our problem is land— having the property to do those activities on.”
Hayes added that the county owns a parcel by Jackson’s Building Supply that would be ideal for a city park.
The triangular, one-acre parcel, bounded by Southwest 1st Terrace, Southwest 2nd Street, and Southwest 6th Avenue, used to house a farmer’s market.
The city manager added that the city needs a parcel with enough room for the courts, parking, restrooms, and lighting.
Commissioner Donna Jackson told Hayes she would oppose the county selling the farmer’s market site.
“As a commissioner, I’m not interested in getting rid of the Jackson’s property because it is so utilized by the community, and for us to give it up is to give up allowing our citizens that opportunity to use it,” Jackson said. “And I would love, personally, to see a farmer’s market go back in there.
Hayes added that she and other city officials also want the farmer’s market to return. She said that she is looking into bringing festivals to Lake Butler and recently visited Green Cove Springs to see that city’s tree festival.
“People have come to me (from) the city and county,” Hayes said. “They want to see more activities, and they want to have more festivals, things like that. So, we are trying to get that started in the city.”
Jackson, as well as Commissioner Channing Dobbs, offered alternatives to Hayes, including using part of the city’s spray field parcel for recreation and the county’s recreation park, which backs up to the city’s spray field.
Commissioner Mac Johns was favorable to Hayes’s idea, adding that now, the county receives no revenue from citizen activities on the triangular parcel.
“Citizens setting up their vendors and all that,” he said of activities now occurring on the land. “Yeah, that’s fine. But we don’t make any money. We don’t issue permits, and there’s a guy down there running one heck of a tree business right now because he has no overhead, and he’s pretty much taken over a quarter of that lot, and again, we’re not making any revenue from it.”
Johns added that Hayes’s idea would improve the lot and the area around the parcel.
Hayes said that if the county wanted to work toward selling the parcel, an independent appraisal would have to be performed.
The county property appraiser now values the one acre at $42,262.
Hayes and commissioners agreed to talk further about the idea.
