School Board Counters Land Offer

FARMINGTON — The backand-forth effort to sell 27 acres of undeveloped Farmington School District land next to Williams Elementary School continued Monday night, as Farmington School Board voted 3-1 to counter the counter submitted by Bleaux Barnes and Ronnie Davidson of MadSky Construction.

Board President Jeff Oxford and board members Travis Warren and Amy Hill voted to make a counter offer. Board member Wade Cash voted no, saying he thought the board should reject MadSky’s latest offer.

Superintendent Bryan Law said six people have picked up packets of information about the land for sale, but MadSky is the only one that has submitted an offer.

Barnes’ counter, submitted Oct. 9, was part of the agenda for the regular School Board meeting Monday night. Board member Doug Williams excused himself from the room during discussion. Williams said he was not involved but was a partner with Barnes on other unrelated projects.

“I want to err on the side of caution,” Williams said as he left the boardroom.

Prior to the discussion about a counter offer from Barnes, Law outlined how development of the land through property taxes and student growth would bring revenue to the school district. He has previously said proceeds from selling the land would help the district jump start efforts to build phase 3 of the high school campus: a new football stadium, track and other amenities.

The original offer for the land from MadSky was for $525,000, which includes 2.9 acres of flood plain and the remaining 24.48 acres to used to develop a subdivision with 73 single-family home lots. Barnes then submitted an amended offer of $22,000 per acre for the 24.48 acres set aside for the housing development for a total of $538,560. No money was offered for the flood plain acreage.

The School Board held a special meeting on the amended offer, voting 3-1 to submit a counter, requesting $22,000 for all 27.38 acres for a total selling price of $602,360. The price was based on an appraisal conducted two years ago by Stringfellow Associates of Farmington.

The board’s counter also included a requirement that an eight- foot- tall privacy fence along the property line and that single-family houses would exceed 1,550 heated square feet.

MadSky’s counter, which also named Barnes Heritage LLC as a buyer, along with Mad Sky Construction, provided $22,000 for each acre for a total of $602,360 but his contract stipulated that $63,800 of the purchase price would be allocated to activity accounts for each school building, based on giving each school $18 per student. Farmington High School, example, would receive $9,594.

Barnes also stipulated that $10,579 would go to the high school softball fundraising account and $10,579 would go to the boy’s basketball fundraising account. (Barnes’ daughter played softball and his son played basketball.)

MadSky’s counter also said the school would provide, as part of a new survey, a 40-foot-wide drainage easement and the seller would be responsible for constructing an open ditch, subject to the city of Farmington engineer.

Several board members and people attending the meeting had concerns about the buyer telling Farmington how it could use its money. School attorney Charles Harwell, who attended the meeting, said selling the land is at the board’s discretion and it was within its authority to make a decision to accept the stipulations.

Hill said she realized the stipulations could be for tax purposes but she had a problem with giving some of the money to other groups.

“We were talking about selling this land for Phase 3,” Hill said.

Warren suggested countering Barnes’ offer, but Cash said he believed the board should reject the offer because it had too many complications.

Law recommended the board counter with $22,000 per acre as previously requested but with no stipulations. Warren then wondered about the drainage ditch and Harwell recommended the school give a drainage easement but not be responsible for building a drainage ditch. He said the school should minimize its exposure on any drainage costs.

Warren made the motion for $22,000 per acre, no stipulations and giving a drainage easement. Hill seconded.

Harwell will draw up the counter in a legal document. After the meeting, Law did not know yet when the counter offer would expire.