The city of Arnold has agreed to purchase two homes at the end of Dudler Drive for a total of $389,000 in order to remove an eroding bridge at the end of the subdivision, which is off Jeffco Boulevard in the north part of the city.
The city will pay $239,000 for one of the homes and $150,000 for the other, according to City Council documents.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said the price difference is because one of the homes is larger and sits on a larger lot than the other.
Council members voted in closed sessions to purchase the homes because the city was negotiating with the owners.
On Aug. 25, council members voted unanimously to approve the $150,000 purchase price for one of the homes, and they voted 4-2 on Oct. 6 to buy the other home for $239,000, council documents show.
Ward 3 Councilmen Mark Hood and Rodney Mullins voted against paying $239,000 for the second home. Ward 4 Councilman Gary Plunk was not at the Oct. 6 meeting, but he had voted against the city offering $200,000 for that home during an Aug. 25 closed session, according to council documents.
“I didn’t like that we were giving market value for the house (at $150,000), and the other one, we are not giving market value,” Hood said. “I thought we should have negotiated more. We just had the discussion about the budget going to be a challenge next year, and I think we need to watch our p’s and q’s going forward. Every little bit we can save, the better.”
Mullins agreed.
“I think it was worthy of additional negotiations,” he said.
The city completed the purchase of the first home for $150,000 on Oct. 13, and its deal for the more expensive home is expected to close on May 31, 2023, Richison said.
He said the city owns Dudler Drive and the bridge and will demolish the homes and then remove the single-lane bridge that spans an unnamed creek.
Richison said it would cost too much to replace the bridge so they’ll demolish it instead.
“We think the bridge replacement will be at least ($500,000), if not more,” Richison said. “There also is the ongoing cost of maintenance that would be needed. It is cheaper in the immediate terms and long term. We think it is a smarter use of the money to buy the homes and remove the bridge, which is expensive and serves two houses.”
Richison said the bridge has been eroding over time, and when Public Works Director Judy Wagner started working for Arnold in October 2019, she identified it as a potential problem.
“One of the first things (Wagner) did was a review of all of the small bridges in town,” he said. “She pretty quickly identified the bridge as a problem that would become acute. The road on the side of the bridge, where the two homes are, has been eroding.”
On May 19 in a closed session, council members voted unanimously to make offers to purchase the homes. Arnold initially offered to purchase the smaller home for $103,000 and the larger one for $127,000, council records said.
On Aug. 25, the owners of the smaller property asked for $157,563 before agreeing to the $150,000 purchase price. During that same closed meeting, the council agreed to offer $200,000 for the other home, even though the owners did not quote that price as a counteroffer, Richison said.
“It didn’t move quickly, and it wasn’t something we had been pushing,” he said. “We got ($150,000 home) nailed down fairly fast. It took longer to reach an agreement with (the $239,000 home).”
Richison said he expects it to cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to demolish each home. He said he did not know how much it would cost to remove the bridge or if the city would be able to remove the bridge itself or need to seek an outside contractor.
He also said there are no dates set for the demolition of the homes or the bridge, and that the bridge is still drivable.
“The bridge does not present an imminent danger to anyone who drives on it,” Richison said. “There is not a rush to close the bridge. We don’t have to move all that quickly. It is something we do need to get done, but it does not have to be done immediately.”