Changes Coming to Historic Fette Orchard Property

Seeds of change were sown by the Hannibal City Council for the new owners of a former apple orchard.

The Council gave the green light Tuesday to rezoning a portion of the former Fette Orchard property at 2200 Palmyra Road. Owner Scott Meyer recently purchased a portion of the property including the historic home and outbuildings. Meyer had requested the zoning change in order to host events on the premises.

Brad Peters and another developer own bordering portions of the orchard property.  Peters had expressed concerns that noise from events would disturb residents of new homes he plans to develop nearby. Before the council approved the change, Mayor Hark asked Meyer if the differences had been worked out. Meyer told the council events would end at 10 p.m. during the week and 11 p.m. on weekends. Meyer also said trees and shrubs would be planted for sound control and a sound engineer was working on making the barn more soundproof. After Brad Peters agreed the sanctions on events were acceptable, the rezoning was approved unanimously by the council.

In other business, the council votes to spend $223,146 for development of flood-buyout properties on South Main and Gordon Streets. Parks and Recreation Director Andy Dorian says part of the project includes removal of a deteriorated section of Monroe and Jefferson Streets and development of  a trail through the Gordon Street property. Dorian says plans are for the areas to eventually be an interconnected part of the park system.

Work on the D’Ville Place storm drain project gets a boost after the council voted to rent a more muscular machine—and an operator-- to do the heavy lifting. Public Works Superintendent Brian Chaplin says 8 foot sections of the 48” drainage pipe weigh 7000 pounds. Chaplin says in-house equipment falls short of handling such loads. Although renting a large excavator from Bross Construction will cost $1160 a day, Chaplin says the safety and efficiency of the larger excavator will offset some of the extra costs. He expects the total cost of the project to come in around $100,000 and only a few thousand dollars over budget.

The new drain will better carry water flow from 2 water basins that come off the county and help alleviate flooding around numerous homes in the area. Chaplin says the new drainage system will also minimize roadway erosion and help avoid expensive road reconstruction.

The council also approved a Resolution to quit-claim city-owned land near Reservoir and Ridge Street to adjacent property owner Wanda Lehenbauer.

A Second and Final Reading was approved for rezoning a tract of Hummingbird Estates in order for the developer to build townhouses.