Members of the Luverne City Council unanimously approved the purchase of 0.53 acres of land from Sandy Maxwell during their meeting July 13.
The land, located near Redbird Field, was purchased by the city at a cost of $16,325.
According to City Administrator Jill Wolf, when Maxwell recently had her property surveyed, it was found that her property line actually extended to the middle of Redbird Road.
“This meant that a portion of the city right of way and utility assessments were on her property,” Wolf said. “So this action corrects that mistake.”
Wolf said the property includes a triangle area that includes a portion of Redbird Road as well as the grass berm on the west of the road generally up to the trees.
The property is also located along the railroad and near the river. It is part of the original settlement of Luverne.
“The abstract of the property actually showed it dated way back to the beginning of incorporation of Luverne,” Wolf said.
“Throughout the years, many different parcels were subdivided and combined, so at some point, I would guess, a parcel was combined and either recorded incorrectly or it was purchased before Redbird Road was developed,” Wolf said.
“This is a pretty rare scenario and does not usually happen.”
Redbird Road, including the newly purchased land, provides access to Redbird Field baseball stadium as well as the wastewater treatment facility and a pair of city wells.
Wolf said the city had an appraisal done on the land that needed to be purchased and that the appraiser took into consideration its location next to the rail line and in a flood zone.
“We really appreciated Sandy notifying us of the situation and allowing us to correct it by purchasing the land and retaining ownership to the right of way and utility assessments,” Wolf said. “She was great to work with."