Hopeful that the borough will be able to strike a deal for private development of the former sawmill property at 6 Mile Zimovia Highway, the assembly will hold a public hearing Aug. 23 on an ordinance that would ask voter approval to sell or lease the 32 acres of uplands.
The borough charter and code require voter approval for the sale or lease of any municipally owned property worth more than $1 million. The borough in June purchased the waterfront property for $2.5 million, looking to preserve the parcel intact and hoping it can attract private investment and economic development for the community.
If the borough assembly approves the ordinance, the question would go on the Oct. 4 municipal election ballot.
A sale or lease is not imminent, and the vote is not tied to any specific proposal to take over the property, Mayor Steve Prysunka said last Friday. “We have people talking with us,” he said, declining to provide any specifics.
“We want to see real economic development, not crab pot storage,” the mayor said. “Something that will create jobs.”
The intent of the public vote to authorize the sale or lease of the property is to save time, should the municipality find a developer to take on a project, Borough Manager Jeff Good said last Thursday. That could include an industrial project, or perhaps something related to tourism, he said.
It also could include temporary leases for use of the property, while waiting on a long-term deal, Good said.
Without a vote in October, it would be a full year before the next general election, possibly delaying development of the property, Good said.
Even with voter approval to sell or lease the acreage, any development plans still would be required to go through the planning and zoning commission, including public hearings, the manager said.
In addition, the ordinance putting the question on the ballot includes a commitment: “The assembly will hold a public forum to discuss the economic development of the mill property prior to the sale or lease (over $1 million) of the mill property.”
On Aug. 8, the assembly without opposition approved in the first reading the ordinance calling for the ballot question, moving the issue to a public hearing at the Aug. 23 assembly meeting. Approval of the ordinance is needed at that meeting if the question is to make the deadline to print ballots for the Oct. 4 election.
The mill shut down in 2008 after decades of operations. The buildings were demolished in 2011. The borough bought the property from Betty Buhler, who along with her late husband, Richard, owned Silver Bay Logging, which operated the sawmill.
The borough paid for the purchase by drawing the $2.5 million from its reserves and an Economic Recovery Fund of federal dollars.
Until the property is sold or leased to a private owner, the borough will lose property tax revenues on the acreage, about $20,000 a year.
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