FARRELL City council OKs sale of vacant lots for house

The city will soon have three new residents on Woodland Avenue.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- The population has steadily declined in the city for the past few decades, so it was with some excitement that council agreed Monday to sell some vacant lots to a man who wants to move here.
Daniel Greathouse of Tamplin Street, Sharon, offered $2,000 for five small lots on Woodland Avenue and told council he plans to put a house there.
He said that he, his wife and their 12-year-old son plan to move to Farrell.
Greathouse said the combined small lots will create a building parcel measuring 110 feet by 264 feet.
Down payment: He told council that his home in Sharon is up for sale and that he has put a down payment on a 28-by-70-foot modular house he plans to put on the Farrell land.
He said work will begin within 30 to 90 days of the deed transfer and promised to have the job done in 90 days.
Council can't sell him the land directly.
It is titled under the Farrell Redevelopment Authority, but council voted Monday to recommend that the authority sell the lots to Greathouse at the agreed-upon price.
Greathouse told The Vindicator that he was shopping for property to build a new home and found that Farrell seemed very willing to talk to him.
A city employee showed him some available land, and Greathouse said he picked the Woodland Avenue location.
Both the mayor and council thanked Greathouse for his interest, and City Manager LaVon Saternow said that it is hoped his decision will spur others to do the same.
Sale held: Council tabled action on the sale of a 25-foot-wide lot on Hamilton Avenue to Emmett Miles of All City Development, noting that the company is considering buying two adjacent small lots as well to make one parcel large enough to build a house on.
Council members think All City Development should secure title to the other lots before the city sells it the third for $200.
Saternow said Miles has expressed an interest in building houses on vacant sites around Farrell.