Belleville City Council buys two parcels next door to city hall

The City of Belleville now owns what has been called the most valuable parcel in the city, the whole corner at Five Points all the way to North Liberty Street.
After a five-minute, closed-door session during a special meeting on Monday, the council voted unanimously to buy 25 E. Huron River Drive and 51 E. Huron River Drive for back taxes.
The city has the first right of refusal to purchase properties for back taxes, followed by the county, and then the state, explained City Manager Diana Kollmeyer.
The motion by Councilman Tom Smith was to accept the first right of refusal.
City Manager Kollmeyer said the city offers the price of back taxes for the properties. There were back city taxes owed, as well, but she said, the county said it would be silly for the city to pay the amount owed for its own taxes and then the county have to send that money back.
Kollmeyer said the price of 25 E. Huron River Drive, the former Huron River Market, is $16,221.60 and 51 E. Huron River Drive, a vacant lot at the corner of North Liberty Street, is $2,425.76.
Kollmeyer said back when the proposed Kroger development was being planned for downtown Belleville, a Kroger representative said that the old city hall was sitting on the most valuable property in town.
“We’d be foolish not to do this,” said Councilman Tom Fielder, who has often commented on how valuable the Five Points corner is and how it should be sold to a developer and the city offices be moved to another location.
This makes the total city parcel even more attractive, Kollmeyer said.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack Loria said the $18,647.36 total could be paid out of general fund equity, which is about $2 million.
Kollmeyer said the city was offered two other residential parcels in the city for back taxes and rejected their purchase.
City Clerk Sherri Scharf said she wouldn’t know how to act with a new building and a new office with no raccoons, dead mice, or roaches.
According to the city website, 25 E. Huron River Drive has a building constructed in 1946. It is 6,415 square feet in size on 0.192 acres. It has an assessed value of $122,500 and a taxable value of $103,316 and was owned by Dan Isbanie of Wixom.