(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton City Council approved an ordinance on third reading Tuesday vacating the alley behind St. Margaret’s Catholic Elementary School and requiring $3,000 in compensation for the land.
The price represents a decrease from the value HomeSource Realty placed on the 6,000-square-foot property: $4,000 to $4,500.
Precedent
Initially, Councilmember Mike Bailey proposed setting the price for the alley at $4,000, noting that, while he would personally like to give the land to the school “for free,” the city has to “consider this as a precedent that we’re setting.”
“If somebody else came to us, we wouldn’t want to have the precedent set that we give it away for less than what fair market value is,” Bailey said during this week’s council meeting. “I think we’re sort of restricted to that valuation.”
Councilwoman Karla Borders offered “a bit of a different take,” however, pointing out that St. Margaret’s requested the alley vacation so they could “close off access during school hours” in order to enhance student safety.
“How much does the city need to profit off of that?” Borders asked. “Why charge at all?”
Mayor Tim Hancock added that St. Margaret’s also “does a lot to benefit the community in a lot of ways.”
“There’s a lot of good, I think, that comes out of St Margaret’s as an organization, in terms of providing assistance to nonprofits and groups within the community,” he said. “As far as … worthy recipients of not having to pay, I think St. Margaret’s would definitely be there.”
Hancock also echoed Bailey’s concerns about setting a precedent, however, noting that “whatever we do here is going to be looked at by other individuals that have an alley (and) may want to have it vacated for one reason or the other.”
“That’s what we always have to think of, whenever we’re making changes,” he said. “So thinking about that going forward, and that precedence, having a price, to me, makes sense.
“(But) I don’t think we’re necessarily locked into $4,000.”
The council voted 3-3 against Bailey’s proposal to set the price at $4,000.
The “no” votes came from Hancock, Borders, and Councilmember Karen Johnson, who proposed that $3,000 would be a “fair” price for the alley – especially since St. Margaret’s was already “prepared to pay $2,500.”
“I think we can all agree that there is no price that’s too great to protect our kids,” Johnson said. “I commend (the school) for doing what was necessary in order to do that.”
The council voted in favor of Johnson’s proposal, with Councilmember Eric Carr casting the only “no” vote.
Earlier, Carr had explained that he “would hesitate to venture outside” of the price range HomeSource Realty proposed for the property because of potential impacts on future councils facing similar situations.