[kaneui]

Although the deal is off for the proposed 17-acre purchase in west Flagstaff, the city still has voter approval to spend up to $14M for a new public works yard:


Works yard talks called off for good
February 07, 2013
by Joe Ferguson
Arizona Daily Sun

A $15.7 million deal to buy commercial property in west Flagstaff and turn it into the city's new public works yard is officially dead. A Council majority ignored pleas from a local attorney who asked them to continue negotiations with his father, local developer Wayne Thompson, to sell the 17-acre parcel just off West Route 66. Stephen Thompson told the Council -- without going into details -- that the legal hurdles that had prevented the two parties from coming to an agreement have mostly been resolved. "A successful agreement can be reached," he told the Council Tuesday night. But the Council was largely unwilling to discuss specifics about the secret negotiations in public, including what issues the two sides could not come to terms on. "We know everything we need to know about this piece of property," Mayor Jerry Nabours told Thompson Tuesday night. A six-person majority agreed with a staff recommendation to break off talks with Thompson, which date back to early 2012.

The local developer was the sole respondent to a call for proposals last year to partner in some fashion with the city on a public works yard. The lone holdout on Tuesday night was Nabours, who said he favored continuing discussions. He told his colleagues that he believes the city and Thompson's representatives got sidetracked in December by other issues and believes the two sides can now come to a resolution quickly. However, that was not Nabours' only reason for wanting to continue negotiations.

The mayor said he has been approached by locals skeptical of why the city would want to break off talks with Thompson, suggesting the city was trying to pull a "bait and switch" by advertising one site but with plans to build on another. City Attorney Rosemary Rosales told the Council that although the city's ballot information pamphlet as well as "roadshow" presentations by City Manager Kevin Burke identified the parcel Thompson owns as the future home of the public works yard, the city is not obligated to build there. The only legally binding document -- the language on the November ballot -- does not identify where the city wanted to build a new public works yard, only that it wanted voters to approve $14 million in bonds to fund its construction.

NEXT STEPS

There was no discussion on Tuesday night about next steps, but it is assumed that the city will go back out to the public and make another call for proposals. At least one person, the owner of the Kit Carson RV Park, has stated his interest in selling his property to the city for millions of dollars less than what Thompson was asking for his site. An attorney representing Chris Welsh, the owner of the RV park on West Route 66, told the Council Tuesday night that his client was ready to offer the city a "smoking deal" for the 32-acre site. Welsh at one time said that if the city were interested, he would ask for slightly less than $9 million for his RV park and some adjacent parcels he owns. Other local landowners have also hinted they would be interested in selling property to the city, and the public call for a second round of proposals would not preclude Thompson from making a new offer.