Final details yet to be agreed upon
IMLAY CITY — It’s been weeks in the making, but it appears an agreement between the Imlay City Commission and the owners of a Memphis-based business is not too far off.
At last week’s Imlay City Commission meeting, City Manager Craig Horton told Commission members a 20-page document has been drawn up by the attorneys representing Sage Creek Winery and given to the City’s attorney for review and any possible recommendations.
Pictured above are two of the three buildings Sage Creek Winery is trying to finalize an agreement with Imlay City on purchasing. The vacant buildings could become home to a winery.
The owners of Sage Creek, who currently operates a very successful winery business in Memphis, just a few miles away from Imlay City, has had their eye on a potential location for expansion in Imlay City.
City officials met with the business owners a number of months ago and appeared to be moving forward quickly with the sale of three city-owned buildings where the fire department and DPW were previously located, on Third Street.
As City Manager Horton explained, the breaks were pumped on the widely anticipated projects when “attorney’s for both sides got involved and the whole process was slowed down. We are still waiting on them to work out the details.”
Several weeks ago, Sage Creek owners made a presentation to the Imlay City Commission, expressing interest in the three buildings on Third Street.
It was believed once the deal was finalized, it would take a year’s worth of renovations and work before the expansion was completed.
Horton told Commission members last week they could be requested to take action to finalize the agreement, possibly at a meeting sometime in August.
The City Attorney is expected to be at the next commission meeting on August 1.
In other commission news, members heard from a concerned citizen as to the use of the City’s fire whistle.
The resident asked why it has to be blown for fire calls and stated it quite often goes off three or four times a day.
The resident, who said the siren, “takes away our peace and tranquility of living in town,” lives near one of the sirens and complained about the frequency of the alarms as well as the length of the signal.
He asked if there was any possibility, with today’s technology, if the firefighters could do a “silent response” by receiving calls from personal phones or pagers.
City Manager Horton told the resident he would check with Imlay City Fire Chief Rick Horton about possible changes and said a meeting may be held to discuss possible alternatives.
