By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Crews with a local tree service company will move forward with clearing and demolishing a pair of overgrown and dilapidated properties off Old Highway 31, after the council approved bids to the company during a recent meeting.

Council members voted unanimously during their May 20 meeting to approve a $3,800 bid to Cornerstone Tree Service to demolish and clear structures at 160 12^th Ave. S.E., and voted to approve a $3,800 bid from the company to demolish and clear structures at 572 Old Highway 31.

Cornerstone was the lowest of two bidders on both projects.

Twelfth Avenue Southeast is located between U.S. 31 and U.S. 31 near Interstate 65, and the city’s Housing Abatement Board previously voted to recommend the properties be torn down as they were posing public nuisance and safety hazards.

Once the bids are completed, the city will then decide if it will attach the cost of the demolitions as liens against the properties, which would have to be repaid before the properties could be resold in the future.