DeKALB | The DeKalb City Council annexed approximately 113 acres of land to the city at the Aug. 23 council meeting.

“These are lands that were acquired over the course of a couple years that the city has already been maintaining,” said DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen

According to the approved ordinance, the five parcels of land, located on Pleasant Street and Barber Greene Road, are to be known as a portion of the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport.

DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki said these parcels of land were formerly farms. “The Winters farm [located on] the Pleasant Street parcels, was purchased in October 2006 for $2.6 million,” Biernacki said. “The Hudgins farm [located on] the Barber Green Road parcels, was purchased in August 2008 for $2.2 million.”

DeKalb Principal Planner Derek Hiland said there are not any immediate scheduled plans for the newly annexed land.

“The land along Barber Greene Road will continue to be vacant and part of the runway protection zone,” Hiland said. “The other land could have some type of hangar use or something airport or aviation-related, but for the time being they’re vacant and I don’t see anything occurring there within five to 10 years at the soonest.”

About 98 percent of the combined $4.8 million spent on buying the land came from federal and state grants, Biernacki said. The city paid the remainder of the cost with money from the general fund.

Biernacki said the land along Barber Greene Road is needed for protection for aircraft landing and taking off from the north but the rest of the land could have other uses.

“The Winters land will, in the long term, be used for corporate hangars, an adjustment to Pleasant Street and storm water detention areas,” Biernacki said. “Councils’ action to annex and zone the land is consistent with past actions related to other acquisitions we have made in the past.”