July 18, 2006

MARICOPA - In what has been a twisted and at times controversial process in locating property for Maricopa's permanent City Hall, officials are giving public notice that they're once again in the market for land, but not for long.

While the city recently committed to purchasing 150 acres west of Maricopa, known as the PEED property, concerns surfaced when it came time to sign on the dotted line during a July 5 council meeting.

"I've gotten a lot of calls over this new City Hall property," said Councilman Will Dunn. "People aren't really sure what we're doing. They have a lot of questions. A lot of this, because of the nature of doing a land deal... was done in executive session."

Executive session allows the council to meet privately for such purposes as receiving advice from legal counsel or discussing the purchase of property. The council met in executive session several times during the spring to discuss potential sites for City Hall and the confidentiality of the situation meant that many local landowners and real estate agents might not have known the city was in the market until the decision was made public at a May 9 meeting.

At that meeting, the city announced it was purchasing the PEED property, located at Arizona 238 and Rachel Road, which ironically, isn't even within the city limits, although an annexation process is under way. Many were shocked that the city was literally changing direction from its original plan to locate the City Hall on 20 acres donated by El Dorado Holdings near Porter and Honeycutt roads, nearly 10 miles east of the PEED site.

Several citizens also raised concerns about Councilman Steve Baker's involvement as he represented the seller as a real estate agent. However, Baker did recuse himself from any public discussion or vote on the land purchase.

The PEED deal was scheduled to take place in two steps - a 10-acre purchase in late June followed by a 140-acre purchase within 45 days. And while the city completed the 10-acre deal at $97,000 an acre, several council members started having second thoughts on the rest of the package, especially in the face of a local real estate market that has slowly started to decline.

"We're needing 60 acres. We think $97,000 an acre is more than we should be paying in light of the changing economics of land out here," Dunn said. "We would like to make a public appeal. If someone had 60 acres, we might just be interested. I don't know if the council will table this with me but I don't want any more of this behind-closed-doors stuff. I'm tired of hearing it, tired of making it look like we aren't doing it the right way. I'm not saying let's not buy this. I'm saying let's look at what's out there."

Councilman Joe Estes spoke against tabling the item, saying the city should follow through on its intentions.

"Would we allow the seller to go out and sell it to someone else?" he asked. "We agreed to purchase this property for this price.... We didn't just look at this one piece of property. We looked at four or five others. At the time this was the best deal. That's why we moved on it."

Dunn countered that the city didn't want to be the 'last buyer on the block,' purchasing at the market's high point before land values began their recent downturn. He also noted that even if the city could purchase the PEED property at the appraised price, it would save $1.5 million. He added that he knew of another nearby property on the market for $20,000 an acre.

Councilman Edward Farrell questioned the city's motivations for the purchase.

"We can't predict the market, where it's going. We have to take into consideration where is this money coming from. Is it coming from the council or the taxpayers? Are we making a sentimental decision or a business decision?"

The council agreed with Dunn and Farrell's arguments, tabling the purchase with a 5-1 vote, with Estes voting against. Members encouraged local landowners and agents with potential properties to contact the city as quickly as possible, as a final decision on the PEED property purchase is due in early August. The city has the option of purchasing a 30-day extension on the PEED property for $100,000.

In the meantime, the city is preparing to transfer services from its interim City Hall site on John Wayne Parkway to a much larger facility on Garvey Avenue. That move is expected to take place in late August or early September.

©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2006