City will pay Sanders far less than requested

Shelbyville's city council voted to authorize payment to businessman Bobby Sanders for property on East Lane Street, but for only a fraction of the amount he was requesting.

Sanders bought the property from Shelbyville in December 1995 only to later learn it was owned by Walking Horse and Eastern Railroad.

The council discussed making the payment at a recent attorney/client meeting of the city council and councilman Al Stephenson made a motion to authorize it.

But Stephenson amended the motion stating that in exchange for a quitclaim deed transferring the property back from Sanders to the city, that Shelbyville reimburse him the purchase price he paid for the property and the amount of both city and county property taxes Sanders has paid through 2008, for a total of $22,948.86.

This was considerably less than the $125,718.81 that Sanders was asking for.

Invoices submitted to the city from Sanders' attorney Joe Lambert stated that the amount supported the cost incurred by Sanders to improve and maintain the property.

Lambert listed expenses of $67,397.86, plus interest totaling $58,320.95. Lambert said that the calculations "represent an amount necessary to place Mr. Sanders in a position as if the transaction had never occurred."

Sanders stated last year that he bought the land, which is located at the corner of Bethany Lane and Madison Street, for $20,000 and obtained a building permit to construct two commercial buildings.

Last August, Sanders gave a letter to council members that requested reimbursement of the money he paid to the city "plus accrued interest and expenses."

He asked for either $120,000 or a conveyance of the city's one-half undivided interest in property located on North Main Street that Shelbyville co-owns with Bedford County.

However, on Tuesday, the county commission endorsed the idea of selling the house and using the proceeds to purchase land for an industrial park and the council also voted to do the same Thursday night.

Officials with the railroad learned in 2008 that another piece of property was actually within the railroad's right of way.

That prompted railroad officials to check for any other properties that might lay in the right of way, and the land that Sanders bought from the city was one of them. But Sanders was already starting a building pad on the lot.

An agreement had been struck with a prospective tenant for the use of one building who had agreed to purchase it after leasing it for one or two years, Sanders said in August.

"The excavation work had begun and a pad had been constructed in preparation for the first building," Sanders wrote to the council. "Before a slab was poured, I was notified by the city manager to cease construction."

The matter involving Sanders was considered by the Bedford Railroad Authority last year and it determined that it "had a need for that property for storage of materials during times of track construction," former city manager Ed Craig explained at the time, adding that it was the only piece of land usable for that purpose.

The Authority declined to sell Sanders the property or give him an easement, therefore, he could not use it.

According to figures Sanders presented to the city last August, $22,768.96 was spent buying the land and paying property taxes, an additional $6,399 was spent in "development expenses" and, along with "uncertain materials" listed by Sanders, add up to $40,922.80, most of which are a summary of expenses for the land for the last 10 years.

Sanders told the council last year that he bought the property on yesterday's market and wanted to sell it at today's value.