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A&P, parks to increase offer for land |
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Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
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By Lynda Hollenbeck
Courier Staff Benton Advertising and Promotion Commission and the Benton Parks Commission are continuing negotiations to purchase a 5.59-acre tract of land near Sunset Lake.
In a special meeting Monday, a decision was made to authorize Alan Jessup, A&P chairman, to offer owner Mike O’Kelley up to $215,000 for the property near the Saline County Fairgrounds.
Following a special meeting last week, the commission offered $200,000 to O’Kelley, but he refused the offer and presented a counter offer of $215,000.
Benton Alderman Brad Moore, a commission member, said the property has been listed for sale at $249,900. O’Kelley’s original offer was for $220,000.
“If the deal is successful, the A&P Commission will sell the property to the Parks Commission,” said Moore, who did not say where the $249,000 sale price has been listed.
The purchase of the site is subject to an appraisal, an asbestos inspection and a lead paint inspection, the commissioners said Monday.
Attending the meeting were three Parks Commission members, including Steve Brown, the chairman, Gene Moss and Warren Burleson. All three said they support purchasing the land.
“This [tract] is a pivotal park of our concept for this area,” Burleson said. “We want to develop this all the way to the river. ... Let’s don’t let this get away from us again. We’ve been talking about it for years ... .”
Burleson said he hopes the city eventually can acquire the mobile home park across from Sunset Lake and develop it as a recreational/tourist site. “We could have a wedding chapel ... multiple uses are possible,” he said
Brown said: “We want to spend the taxpayers’ money wisely, but we don’t want to let this slip away.”
Also in attendance was Benton Alderman Doug Stracener, who pointed out that Mayor Rick Holland encouraged the city to purchase the property “in about 2004 or 2005. He said a large amount of gravel at the site was marketable and would just about have paid for it.”
“If this moves forward and that hillside comes down, we need to look at this (selling gravel) to recoup some of the money,” Stracener said.
Karen Crowson, managing broker with Crye-Leike Realtors of Benton, is representing the buyers.
O’Kelley had intended to build multi-family housing on the property, which now includes a structure. City officials have said they don’t know what they will do with the house if the sale is finalized.
The property, which is on Fairfield Road across from Sunset Lake, is in an area where the A&P Commission wants to build an events center. It is near Bernard Holland Park and the Saline County Fairgrounds, which are located along Interstate 30 between the Sevier Street and Haskell exits.
The A&P Commission is in the process of acquiring the old US Fuel Mart near the fairgrounds as part of an overall development concept for the area.
Commission members have not said publicly when an events center would be built or how it would be funded.
Privately, an A&P Commission member said Monday that a bond issue would be required to build the facility and that would require a vote of the public. No tax increase is being considered, the commissioner said.
Moore said last week that the 5.59-acre tract “is a strategic piece of property, and I think it’s much to our advantage to have it in our hip pocket.”
The area also is near the old airport, Watts Field, and the Saline County maintenance shed.
An equine area is among the development plans, the A&P commissioners have said.
The commission’s purchase of the old US Fuel Mart from Troutman Oil Co. is pending completion of an environmental study. The abandoned business is at 15433 I-30.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality had been concerned that additional underground fuel tanks could have been located at the site in addition to the ones that were known to exist.
That area has been excavated and it was determined that there are no additional tanks, Commissioner David Prater said Monday.
Tom Watson of Tom Watson Excavating was working at the site late Monday. After the excavation was completed, Watson was backfilling the area.
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