LINDEN-The City of Linden and Linden Lumber received some very good news on April 1, 2004. This news will allow for the continued future growth of Linden Lumber as one of the core industrial backbones of the City of Linden.

The Linden City Administrator Cheryl Hall said they received a letter back on April 1 confirming that the city had received the Industrial Access Road and Bridge Authority Grant, which is a branch of the Alabama Department on Transportation. She also said the grant is worth $512,700 and will be used by the city and Linden Lumber.

“This is our second try at getting this grant for the city,” Hall said, “We first tried back in December of 2002 and then we tried in July of 2003 and we finally got it.”

She said the grant would be used to fund the construction of turn lanes on U.S. Highway 43 and an entrance road into the employee parking lot. She also said this construction will build a new turn lane for employees only south of the main turn lane for the trucks.

In the letter received from the President of the Industrial Access Road and Bridge Authority D.J. McInnes, he said under the terms of this allocation, the City of Linden will be responsible for preliminary engineering costs, right-of-way, utility relocation, and any project cost overruns.

During the Linden City Council Meeting on Monday night, this was just one of the many different topics that were discussed.

* The council turned over the Linden Airport and the Linden Manufacturing Building to the Linden Industrial Board.

* Discussed another grant that the city is working on to help restore the airport.

* Appointed Sylvain Mutschler to the Linden Industrial Board

* Accepted a bid of $9, 310 from Milton Craig to begin work on the new sidewalk project that will run from Linden Elementary School to Dairy Queen.

* Cheryl Hall told the council about all of the work that Street Department has been doing lately.

* The council also discussed the new sidewalk running from George P. Austin to MLK. The bidding will open May 17 and work should begin on June 1.

* The council voted to change the speed limits on Sixth Avenue from 20 mph to 25 mph and Shiloh from 25 mph to 35 mph.

* The council also discussed an offer from Unicel to place a cellular tower in Linden. Unicel would also pay Linden $1,000 a month for allowing the tower in their city.