City land investment discussed at Council retreat

Future land purchases for city government sites and economic development were the focus Wednesday at a city council retreat at Maricopa’s Interim City Hall.

This theme was continued from Tuesday’s city council meeting where Mike Ingram of El Dorado Holdings pitched an unapprised 115-acre land deal to council members with a short closing date of Feb. 28.

Council members considered the land for a future industrial development site, with the intent of bringing jobs to Maricopa, as well as possible government buildings including City Hall.

Council members’ views varied as the night progressed and though they were unable to make decisions on a $3,500 appraisal of the land, this indecision arose as many unknowns about the purchase came to light.

One such unknown was the costs that would make the land ready to build on. Currently there are bails of hay that will take several months to get rid of, as well as other maintenance requirements.

In addition, it was unknown to Council whether or not the developer would pay for those costs.

After discussing the pros and cons, however, Council decided against a meeting to cancel the appraisal, basically allowing the situation to continue as is.

In order to ascertain these answers, the city would need a 30 day extension at the cost of $30,000 should they decide to pursue the land after Feb. 28.

City Manager Rick Buss said that even with 30 days it would be difficult for city employees to gather enough information about the piece of property.

Councilmember Kelly Haddad said that within the remaining time frame they should try and obtain a rough figure of extra costs of making the land shovel-ready and whether or not Ingram would cover those costs, in order to avoid paying for another 30 days.

Land developer Mike Ingram presents a land proposal to council that comes with a Feb. 28 closing date. If the city wishes to extended the option to negotiate a purchase by 30 days, the city will have to pay $30,000.

City Manager Rick Buss said the city would need more than 30-days to gather the information necessary to move forward on the Gin Property.

As well as this prospective land purchase, the future sites of the city hall and the combined site of police and court headquarters were discussed. Councilmember Joseph Estes stressed the necessity of looking at all options and locations throughout the city.

Councilmember Will Dunn suggested a small citizen committee, to give their input on possible sites for the buildings.

Dissenting slightly, Councilmember Edward Farrell said, “At the end of the day it’s all about the citizens … but why are the seven of us on this council? Because we were elected.” He added that, “the citizens elected us to sit on this council, on this board, to give direction to the city.”

Dunn responded by saying should they enact a citizen committee, it would only offer recommendations, and that the council would have the final deciding vote.

The two most immediate land needs are for the Police and Court headquarters, which will be set up together, and a City Hall site.

Photos by Aaron Thacker