City To Purchase Graves Estate

Purchase of 105 acres of the r Graves Estate on Huron River n , at $2,500 per acre, was ' lurorized by the City Council fnight , l'he property, located east of Bird Road, will be purchased ■ith park land general obliga■ion bond funds and a federal! ■grant. f For the past few years, the I council has expressed an interI est in obtaining all or a portion 1 of the Graves estáte. City Administrator Guy C. Larcom Jr. said the purchase which will inI volve most of the estáte, would I be substituted for two other proI Iposed park land purchases which lad been included in the original federal granl of $708,000 in matching funds. City taxpayers approved $1 million for park land acquisition last year. The original two pareéis conté mplated for purchase would llave cost an estimated $240,000, while the Graves property will total $262,500. "There are dollars available for this," Larcom said, notingUial to date the city has committed $620,174 ior park land purchases. . Larcom also noted that the federal government had provefJ the si.ibst-itution of the Graves prpperty ior the olher two pareéis. in ü progress report on parkland acqufgltioD, tarcom said the city staff is negntiating fo 5 the purchase of four other sites I !' and that two purchases - the I Marshall property on Dixboro I ■Road and the Ruthvcn property I ■ on Fuller Road - are still I 1 ing Final approva! as to cost by I the federal government. He also commented that the I administration is preparing an I i application to the federal I hernment for matching funds to i buy additional land at the f tary landfill site on Platt Road. I This would not be part of the $1 ; million park "land acquisition V program, he added. I In a related matter, the lici] approved the hiring of Frank l Pennisi to aid the city in : quiring land for its proposed k greenbelt on the city's west side l which will extend from Stadium ï Boulevard to the downtown area. He is the first man hired by I [the city to aid in land Ij tion, and others are expected to l be hired to help in acquiring l land for the city's thoroughfare ■ program. I