With the city-owned property at the intersection of Dollarway and Hoadley roads more visible following timber cutting and debris removal, Mayor Noel Foster said Monday the next step for a planned community center on the site will involve having an engineer take a close look at the tract.
The survey will help planners maximize land use, he added, and take corrective steps before architectural plans can be drawn.
The Advertising and Promotion Commission, which authorized the clearing, should be meeting in the near future, Foster added, to evaluate a survey of financing options for the center.
While the municipality has more than $3 million in cash — proceeds from the motel and prepared food tax — the commission asked Foster to examine the options for revenue bonds because of existing low interest rates. Tax revenues could be pledged to construction bonds.
“The architect must know if we are going to build the center all at once or accept the modular concept and expand on a pay-as-you-go basis,” Foster added.
“I know from previous experience it appears we are moving slowly, but a project this size doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “We should have some of the preliminary work, including cost estimates, available by October.”
It will take an architect several months to complete drawings and ready the project for bids, Foster observed, and construction could begin in early 2013.