Collierville enters purchase agreement for land next to E-plex. Here's why.

The Town of Collierville plans to preserve a plot of land on Wolf River Boulevard and possibly add it to the Robbins-Halle Nature Preserve.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday unanimously approved a $255,000 purchase agreement for 13.66 acres of land from Byron Brown, the son of the late E-plex owner Norman Brown III.

After reaching out to the town about six weeks ago, Brown convinced the town to purchase land on Wolf River Boulevard east of Robbins-Halle Nature Preserve.

Town Administrator Molly Mehner said Brown did not say why he asked Collierville to purchase the land. Brown was not present at Tuesday's meeting.

The vacant land is zoned forest-agricultural-residential and will probably stay that way.

"We want to preserve the land-use vicinity across from our wastewater treatment plant," Mehner said, "to prevent single-family homes from being constructed where they might object to being that close to a wastewater treatment plant."

Mehner said it is unclear what the town will do with the land for now.

After approving the purchase agreement with Wildlife Properties, the board also approved Mehner signing onto a two-phase environmental study contract for about $40,000.

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Both phases of the study will take about 45 days to inspect the land to ensure no liabilities are present and "to be safe rather than sorry," Mehner said. The town has a 60-day inspection period to continue or terminate the purchase agreement.

After the inspection, the item will come back before the board for approval of the deed, Mehner said.

In a Feb. 2 work session, the board discussed purchasing the parcel because of its proximity to the Northwest Wastewater Treatment Plant, the future right-of-way for Wolf River Boulevard and Robbins-Halle Nature Reserve.

"This is just one of those proactive measures the town takes to ensure that the development of the town is done responsibly," Mehner said. "We're trying to look future-forward and make sure we're doing what's best for the community."

The plot sits right above the northwest corner of the E-plex site, which saw controversy for years because of the smell and noise from the land.

In an earlier statement to The Commercial Appeal from Kimberly Schofinski, the deputy communications director for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Blaylock and Brown Construction, operator of the Collierville E-plex site, decided in January to shut down the landfill. Plans for capping the land are still unclear.

Dima Amro covers the suburbs for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at Dima.Amro@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @AmroDima.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Collierville purchases land next to E-plex: Here's what it could be