City To Make Offer For Church Land

FARMINGTON — The city of Farmington would like to purchase 2.4 acres from Farmington United Methodist Church to provide more parking for the sports complex and build an access road for workers to drive to the facility’s storage building.

Farmington City Council members gave Mayor Ernie Penn permission to negotiate to purchase the land on the city’s behalf at their May 11 meeting. Alderwoman Diane Bryant recused herself from the vote because she is a church member. The Council would have to approve a final purchase price.

Penn told aldermen he has approached church officials several times about acquiring additional land to benefit the ballpark.

The city already uses a grassy area belonging to the church for overflow parking and this is part of the land the city would like to purchase. The rest is land that goes along the church’s boundary on the west side.

Penn said a survey shows the area has 2.34 acres but church representatives believed the area is larger than that. A land appraisal report by Brian Hester of Farmington values the 2.4 acres at $51,500, based on comparable sales in the area.

After the meeting, Penn said the church has given $45,000 per acre as a preliminary sale price.

If a price cannot be agreed upon, Penn said the city still would be able to use church property for parking but would sign a contract with the church for this use because of liability issues raised by the church’s insurance company.

The money for the land would come from extra sales tax money generated by the special 1-cent sales tax to build the complex.