SALISBURY — Mounds of debris from an old mill that have plagued the Park Avenue neighborhood for years could finally be cleaned up under a new agreement between the city, Rowan County and the property owner.
City Council on Tuesday will consider authorizing City Manager Doug Paris to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with Rowan County regarding debris removal on the Kesler Mill property.
Built in 1896, the Kesler Manufacturing complex was shuttered in 2000. Four years ago, new owner FCS Urban Ministries hired a contractor to demolish the mill’s remaining structures and harvest the historic building materials.
FCS Urban Ministries was supposed to have removed the remaining piles of debris and rubble by spring 2010.
But the eyesore remains today, 12 acres of blight in the middle of a fragile Salisbury neighborhood.
The Atlanta-based charity says it doesn’t have the money to clean up the site.
Under the proposed agreement, the charity would clear the site of debris and all hazardous conditions, then deed the property to the city.
Rowan County would defer the cost of disposing of the materials in the landfill, estimated to be about $144,000, according to Janet Gapen, the city’s director of Community Planning Services. The city would defer all code services fines.
When the property is sold or redeveloped, proceeds would pay off the debt for the landfill tipping fees and the city fines.
Rowan County commissioners have approved the agreement, adding provisions that landfill fees will be due after 10 years and the county would not assume liability for any environmental risks.
Gapen told City Council the tipping fees are expected to be $144,000 based on projected tonnage of 3,500 to 4,000 tons. If the charity donates the property to the city and the land is not sold or redeveloped within 10 years, the city would be liable for the fees, she wrote in a memo.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda:

• City Council is scheduled to go into closed session to discuss buying the Grimes Mill property from Historic Salisbury Foundation.
The property stands at the corner of West Franklin and North Church streets. The city owns nearly the entire block.
The 117-year-old roller mill was destroyed by a five-alarm fire Jan. 16. The foundation had been preparing to re-open the mill to public tours.
Volunteers gathered thousands of bricks left after the fire and sold them to help offset the cost of cleaning the site.
• Mayor Paul Woodson will proclaim Oct. 6 through Oct. 12 as Mental Illness Awareness Week.
• City Council will consider awarding a contract in the amount of $258,265 to Lane Construction Corporation to pave portions of nine city streets, including Reeves Street, Richard Street, Fourteenth Street, Balfour Drive, Rink Street, Mining Avenue, Briarwood Drive, South Fulton Street and North Fulton Street.
• City Council will consider a $151,725 contract with Synagro Central LLC for the operation of a residuals land application program for Salisbury-Rowan Utilities. The contract would save about $19,000 a year, based on last year’s estimates of biosolids production at the city’s two wastewater treatment plants.
• City Council will consider abating the 2010 property tax bill for the Rowan Museum at 202 N. Main St., which is $6,768.26 including interest, to correct an oversight.
Rowan County commissioners already have agreed to abate their portion of the tax bill.
• City Council will consider a right-of-way agreement with Duke Energy Carolinas for 329 S. Main St., the proposed site of the downtown school central office.
The city has been working with Integro Technologies on the construction of its new $3.2 million headquarters in the 300 block of south Main Street, next to the proposed central office site.
As officials worked with Integro, they also have been evaluating how to provide electrical service to a new facility at 329 S. Main St., Assistant City Manager John Sofley wrote to City Council in a memo.
The most effective solution to servicing Integro and the proposed new facility is to locate a new electrical service pad within the block, Sofley said. In working with Integro and in maintaining the maximum new building footprint at 329 South Main Street, a new electrical pad location and underground service to it was identified, he said.
• City Manager Doug Paris’s comments.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.