SALEM — City council Thursday night approved the purchase of the property located between Lincoln Plaza and the Salem Memorial Building where the former Red Barn restaurant stands for $450,000 to expand Lincoln Plaza.

The purchase, which will be made exclusively with privately donated funds which were stipulated for that purpose, meaning that the city could not use them for any other purpose, was unanimously approved with the emergency clause, meaning it will take effect immediately rather than after the typical 30-day waiting period. The purchase price for the property includes not only the purchase of the property, but the costs of having the Red Barn building demolished and prepping the property for the city’s use, which is expected to be a mixture of green space and municipal parking.

The purchase was discussed at length in a meeting of the finance committee immediately preceding the city council meeting. In that meeting Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey reiterated that the purchase would be made exclusively with funds donated by residents for that purpose and that no city funds would be used. She said that there weren’t any major plans to overhaul the space, as the existing pavement in the area that is planned to be used for parking shouldn’t need any work and that there were no major plans for the green space, noting that the plan was primarily to create a nicer backdrop for people utilizing the space and improve parking options downtown. She also said that the city still had approximately $50,000 in funding from the state capital budget that is stipulated specifically for improvements to the plaza that would cover the costs of the green space.

“For the foreseeable future it would mostly be a nice grassy area with a few shrubs and things, and we do have money left over from the grant for the park to do those things, it’s not any additional funds,” said Dickey.

Dickey said that any further work on the expansion would be entirely dependent on future grant or state funding specifically for the plaza, which would be brought before the council for review at that time.

Councilman Jake Gano asked if there were restrictions on what improvements could be made with the remaining capital budget funding. Dickey and City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello explained that while the funds had to be used specifically for the Lincoln Plaza project, the specific elements of what improvements it could be used on were not defined, meaning that if it were determined that if it would be better for an area originally planned to be grass to instead have a mulch fill, the city could do so.

Gano also asked if there were any plans to ever put Lincoln Plaza, which is a city property and not affiliated with the parks department nor maintained by its employees, under the department’s oversight, and if the city purchased the property and a business wanted to move into the space at a later date could it be sold.

Dickey said that putting the plaza under the parks department’s purview had been discussed previously but it had been determined that the department lack sufficient funding and staffing to do so and that due to the potential value of Lincoln Plaza as a marketing and community asset for the city it would be best to retain oversight of the property. She also said that if the property was purchased using donated funds stipulated specifically to purchase the property to expand the plaza, and state funding designated for the project was used in its improvement, that the city would likely be unable to sell it, noting that lawsuits had been filed over similar sales in the past.

Councilman Andrew Null asked if the city pays employees to maintain the property, and what systems were in place to prevent it from degrading over time. Cappuzzello said that currently the plaza is set up such that the maintenance can be contracted out rather than paying city employees to do so allowing city employees to focus on larger projects, and that the cost of those services was less than $2,000.

“Because of how it’s set up…we have gotten quotes to take care of the grass and to come in the all one time to cut the plantings back and that’s going to be under $2,000 for the year, so that’s something within the current budget we have with no problems at all,” said Cappuzzello

Null also asked if this was currently anticipated as the last expansion for the time being, which Dickey and Cappuzzello both stated that there were no further expansions planned for the foreseeable future.

“Where are we going to go,” joked Dickey

Sustainable Opportunity Development Center Executive Director Julie Needs said that she felt the purchase would be beneficial to the city as the building had been sitting vacant “for quite some time” with no viable inquiries for its purchase and that it was among the first buildings seen by people entering the city. She also noted that if the city purchased the property, it would be able to control what it was used for and that it carried potential opportunities for revenue generation such as renting out the gazebo for weddings or food truck permitting within the paved section. City Law Director Brooke Zellers suggested that a designated fund could be set up to contain any revenue generated by the plaza which could then be used for any future repair or capital improvement expenses.

“For the city to be able to purchase it and control what happens on that site is extremely valuable. Because the longer it sits there you could maybe end up with something that doesn’t add to the vibrancy of the community, doesn’t add to the downtown, could deter from the park, this way the city could control that,” said Needs. “There’s also a lot of other opportunities like the food trucks that could generate revenue for the city, events could then be held there. We hear a lot about the issue of parking; this opens some additional parking that helps with downtown businesses and when there’s new events it brings people into the downtown to visit our businesses so you’re generating revenue in different ways and eventually bringing in new businesses.”

During his report Cappuzzello said that the first pass of paving on State Street had been completed that day from the overpass to North Lincoln Avenue and that Project Contractor Shelly & Sands would be paving the other side of State Friday and North Lincoln today, weather permitting.

During the pleasure of council Councilwoman Sara Baer announced that she would be becoming a grandmother for the first time soon.

The meeting concluded with an executive session for the discussion of legal matters with no action to follow.

City council will meet next at 7 p.m. May 20.

mahart@mojonews.com