DAPHNE – Access improvements are planned for a city-owned parcel between the Daphne Justice Center and the adjacent shopping center on US 98, city officials said.
During the March 2 City Council meeting, residents questioned city actions to begin removing trees on the site. Mayor Dane Haygood said the city is studying work to prepare the area for highway work in US 98.
The Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization approved funding for improvements along US 98 in Daphne in its Transportation Improvement Plan for Fiscal Year 2021.
“At the present time, we’re simply improving that site to bring it up to grade with the adjacent properties. That’s in preparation for an Eastern Shore MPO funding opportunity to do a lot of improvements from Highway 98 and County Road 64 to Van (Avenue),” Haygood said.
The US 98 Corridor Improvement Plan calls for $2.33 million in work in the area, according to MPO reports. Haygood said. The MPO would provide more than $1.86 million for the work while Daphne would pay $466,000, the report said.
Haygood said city officials have been working with the Alabama Department of Transportation as well as a stakeholder group and engineers to develop a plan for the site.
The plan being developed would close some of the median cuts on US 98 and adding a new turn signal at Lavender Lane for drivers going to the Daphne Police Department at the Justice Center. The Lavender Lane signal could also improvement access for the shopping center that includes the Daphne Target Store, Haygood said.
He said private developers are also talking to the city about the site.
“There are some prospects on the horizon for a prospective sale or ground lease of that property,” Haygood said. “There’s some interest from a number of parties, we’re not at liberty to disclose who those are at this time, but in the near future, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to make that public once things are finalized. We look forward to trying to create some revenue streams that can take that property and better serve our citizens, hopefully in an ongoing basis through a very formidable ground lease for getting the value for that property.”
The mayor said the city should be able to provide more information about discussions with developers within a few months.
