The Petersburg Borough can now sell its land to private citizens and developers at below appraised value. They’re allowed to do so if the proposed project will benefit the public. The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the change last week. Before then, Borough land could only be sold below its appraised value to a state or federal agency, nonprofit, or federally recognized tribe.
Assembly Member Thomas Fine-Walsh submitted the ordinance. He told assembly members it’s meant to address the shortage of reasonably priced housing within the Borough. A survey last year found that the community needs more than 300 additional housing units.
Fine-Walsh said the idea is to encourage developers by lowering the cost of Borough land.
“That may attract developers who are interested in creating larger developments – not just one by one – we’re talking about the possibility of it through economies of scale, which are only possible if you’re doing a larger development, you’d be able to get cheaper lots on the market,” he said.
The ordinance passed 6-1 with Assembly Member Donna Marsh voting no. Marsh wanted to include language about enforcement in the law, but didn’t have specifics about how that would happen. Marsh said she was concerned that there was nothing to stop developers from selling their units at high prices after getting the land at a discount.
Assembly Member Bob Lynn proposed changes to the ordinance at last week’s final vote, which gained support. One was to reduce the minimum number of homes required in a plan from 20 to five. The vote was 6-1 with Donna Marsh against.
Also, the original language of the ordinance required the developer to have a conceptual plan and timeline for their project. The Assembly voted 6-1 to add a financial plan to that list, with Marsh voting no.
The Assembly also voted 6-1 to require that the developer applying to purchase the land pay for the appraisal. Assembly Member Marsh voted against the change.
And the Assembly voted unanimously to cut some requirements, allowing the borough manager and assembly to decide which boards and committees to involve on a case-by-case basis.
But even with the changes, some assembly members were unhappy with the final wording of the law. Jeigh Stanton Gregor said he didn’t like the vagueness around the definition of “public benefit.” He said the subjectivity of the term means there’s room for a lot of personal interpretation by members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Borough Assembly.
“I’m gonna be voting yes on this,” he said. “But I do think it’s a deeply flawed ordinance. So why would I be voting ‘Yes’ on a deeply flawed ordinance? Because it can’t do any harm.”
He said the ordinance gives more guidelines than the Borough currently has, and also offers the Borough more freedom.
“It’s a foot in the door for trying to make it easier for more housing and more affordable housing,” he said. “So put it simply, I figure we’ll give it a shot. And if it doesn’t work, we can do something else.”
A change to the land sale law has been in the works since last fall. That’s when a local business – Skylark LLC – was working to develop a subdivision of manufactured homes. The company owns land between Severson’s Subdivision and Skylark Park, and planned to buy more borough-owned land in the area. But owners of the company said that it would be impossible to develop a subdivision of affordable, entry-level homes if they had to buy the borough lots at their appraised value.
Owner Ambre Burrell told KFSK by text message that the company has been talking with the borough manager and hopes to begin negotiations to buy the land in the next few weeks.
