McInnis family, city reach deal on land near Greenway

Transaction preserves public access to Greenway at Love Lane

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Richard McInnis and family sold 2.04 acres to the city of Rockingham that will help preserve public access to the Hitchcock Greenway walking trail at Love Lane.

ROCKINGHAM — Never let it be said that Richard McInnis can’t see the big picture. He does — and he loves it.

McInnis and his family recently chose to sell the 2.04 acres around the existing public access point to the Hitchcock Greenway walking trail to the city of Rockingham for $5,000 — $21,546 less than what he could have gotten for it on the open market.

What made the land unsuitable to build on was that it was unable to connect to the city’s water line without a pump station, something a homeowner would be unlikely to add on the construction of an individual home.

City officials said the McInnis family is “very supportive of the city’s efforts to preserve the Pee Dee Lake Bed and to construct the greenway and blue trail for public use.”

City Manager Monty Crump, in his monthly report to City Council, called the area “a significant access point to the greenway/lake bed.”

“The parcel located near L.J. Bell (Elementary School), while not contiguous to (the) lake bed, is a part of (the) deal and will be preserved as green spacen,” Crump told council members.

The total tax value of the three parcels is $26,564. The two lots at the end of Love Lane are not in the flood plain and with the installation of a pump station would be build able. The McInnis family will gift the $21,546 different in value (tax value vs. sale price) as a donation to the city.