While representing Publix at the Troy City Council meeting, Store Manager Jared Davis announced that Publix is set to open on January 18 if nothing changes.

Davis attended the meeting to represent Publix as the council decided whether to grant retail beer and table wine licenses to the store. The licenses only allow for off-premise consumption of the alcohol.

Councilman Greg Meeks reminded Davis that the city “frowns on” selling alcohol to minors and that random checks will be done occasionally. The council then approved both licenses unanimously.

“This has been an exciting project and quite a lot of work for people on your side and our side,” Mayor Jason Reeves told Davis. “We’re very happy to see it come to fruition.”

The council also voted unanimously on a resolution and ordinance that would finalize the Park Place project agreement with Harbert Realty. This will allow the city to recoup all $3.06 million in the expenses of developing the option property once Harbert exercises their option. The property is located on the south side of the Enzor Road connector across from the current development.

“When Harbert came in… the City purchased the other side with the Harbert option,” Reeves said. “We’ve spent money, materials– when you ride down this road, you’ll see how much dirt had to be moved to make this level and graded. All the costs associated with that option land, they’ll pay for when they exercise their option.”

Harbert will have until June 1, 2020 to exercise their option on the property and take on those expenses. If they failed to do so, the city would then be free to do what they want to with it, and Reeves said he’s already had about a dozen phone calls from parties interested in the property.

However, Reeves said he expects that Harbert will exercise their option, most likely within eighteen months.

Tim Ramsden, a project engineer for much of the city’s developments, requested for the council to approve an application for the 2017 TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) grant, which woud replace sidewalks on North Three Notch Street from the Square to Love Street and on Market Street from Church to Madison.

Concepts for these sidewalks were included in the Downtown Plan, and show that the intersection of Three Notch and Love will be narrowed to normal lane width, providing potential for beautification measures at a “gateway” to downtown Troy.

The grant is worth $400,000 with a 20 percent match from the city. In order to maximize the grant amount, sidewalks just off the Square to the Pike County Courthouse could be added to the project as well.

“Any time you can get $400,000 for $100,000, that’s a good thing,” Ramsden said.

This is just the application phase of the project. Ramsden said it will take three to four months to find out if the application is approved and that the council could then decide on whether or not to go ahead with the project.

The city has three of these projects already in the works, with sidewalk projects downtown and along the new Enzor Road connector set to begin construction some time in late winter or early spring, according to Ramsden.

A third TAP grant for the construction of a multi-modal path from Troy University to the Square is also underway, but Ramsden said that the project is still in its early design phases.

In closing, the mayor and council members reminded residents that trash pickup will be a bit different due to the holiday. The route that would normally pick up on December 23 will be picked up on December 22 and the route that picks up December 26 will be picking up instead on December 28.

District 5 Councilwoman Wanda Moultry reminded residents that she will be hositng a meeting at 5:30 p.m. today, December 14 in the City Council Chamber for District 5 residents to come and discuss how to move forward now that Moultry has been appointed as their representative.

The next meeting of the Troy City Council will be held Tuesday, December 27 at City Hall with the work session beginning at 4 p.m. followed by the meeting at 5 p.m.