The Lake Havasu City Council approved a quid pro quo agreement with Bradley Chevrolet Tuesday in the hopes that it would encourage other businesses in the future to assist with landscaping State Route 95.

The Lake Havasu City auto dealership will landscape a city and two state rights-of-way in exchange for the city deducting the cost from the firm’s lease payments on three city-owned parcels.

Bradley will improve the land adjacent to a 70-by-20- foot parcel it will lease from the city. The parcel and rights-of-way are located next to the Circle K convenience store on Industrial Boulevard and SR95. The agreement also calls for the company to the landscape the state right-of-way along the SR95 corridor in front of their property. The bid for landscaping is $38,976.

“It was the hope of the committee and staff who further negotiated, through these types of agreements we could actually get some landscaping done throughout the Highway 95 corridor, through some kind of mechanism that would save the city out-of-cost pockets and interests,” Assistant City Attorney Kelly Garry told the council Tuesday.

For its part, the city will deduct the costs from the lease payment for the 70-by-20-foot parcel adjacent to the dealership, as well as the payments on two other parcels that auto dealer leases from the city.

The city currently collects $200 a month for the two leases. And had a deal not been struck, the city would have charged Bradley $58.33 a month or $699.96 a year for the next 20 years on the 70-by-20-foot parcel. Adjustments may be made every five years based on the Consumer Price Index, according to the lease.

The city can opt at anytime to pay the amount due on the landscaping and go back to charging the car dealership the monthly lease payments.

Conditions of the lease were originally discussed at a December 2007 city council meeting. Details of the agreement indicate Bradley Chevrolet would use the parcel of land to store vehicles. The lease restricts the dealership from using the right-of-way as an access point to the dealership.

Bradley was granted a limited municipal rate for the parcel of land. Mayor Mark Nexsen inquired about the terms of the rate at Tuesday’s meeting. Garry told the council the limited municipal rate is calculated at $10 per square foot. When a property is municipal or city-owned, there are certain restrictions for what the property can be, so it is not placed at a fair-market value but a reduced municipal rate.

The rate structure has been previously used for the Campbell Boats’ lease and the Food Banks’ lease.

The Bradley lease agreement is the first of what the city hopes would be many with businesses that would help with the beautification of the city.

You may contact the reporter at twawggoner@havasunews.com.