Celina council drops plan to sell property

CELINA - City council members on Monday night at the behest of mayor Jeff Hazel abruptly shifted course and dropped plans to sell an unused parcel of land that two entities use for parking.

The land - located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Ash and Center streets, next to the building owned by E Link Enterprises LLC, which houses the Celina-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce - for the foreseeable future will remain an unpaved public parking lot owned by the city but essentially maintained by the chamber and Zuma Automotive.

At their last regular meeting, councilors had advanced to second reading an ordinance authorizing city safety service director Tom Hitchcock to advertise the notice of public auction of the land, which is zoned for business use. Councilor Myron Buxton had cast the lone "no" vote, expressing fear that the chamber could be outbid and left in the cold during the proposed public auction.

"The mayor was approached by the chamber wanting the city to pave the lot, which the city was not in favor of doing," Hitchcock had explained. "So we talked about just putting it up for sale and letting them buy it and pay for (it)."

The city has two options to sell its real estate. If the transaction leads to job creation, officials can sell directly to a specific person or entity through the Mercer County Community Improvement Corp. If no jobs are to be created, officials must open the sale to the public through sealed bids, Hitchcock had told the newspaper after the last meeting.

Hazel on Monday night noted he was unable to attend that meeting because he was in Washington, D.C., on city business. Rather than see an entity possibly come in and build atop the property, Hazel said he would prefer it be used for parking.

He asked councilors to table indefinitely the ordinance.

"I understand … there's a concern about who might buy that lot," Hazel said. "The question also came to me, 'could somebody buy it, could they building something on it?' Absolutely they could."

Much money has been invested in the building housing the chamber and it looks good for visitors, offering a nice view of the lake and park, Hazel said. Though the chamber is not a government entity, it represents the city well.

"This was not meant to bring some conflict in there," Hazel said. "The chamber had been requesting that this be paved for some time. We had explained to them that from a paving standpoint, it does not lend itself to a public parking lot."

Paving the lot would at most create 14 parking spaces, Hazel said.

"If you've ever seen people park in there, (it's) probably 40," he quipped.

The city has not put money into the parking lot other than "scraped down what would have been potholes in there and uneven area," Hazel noted.

"We didn't have any money into it. My father-in-law's the one that donated (it) to the city after the Amstutz feed mill was removed," Hazel said, adding its been under the city's name for more than three decades. "Zuma Automotive has utilized that lot, but they're the ones that have put stone on it and they'll keep it cleared."

Councilman Mike Sovinski said he viewed the ordinance as a way to gauge potential interest in the property.

"Just because we put it up for auction doesn't mean that we have to sell it," he said.

If city officials were to put it up for bid, "we better have our ducks in a row if we're going to refuse this," council member June Scott said. "Make sure we're refusing it for the right reasons. We didn't put a minimum price on it."

The market value of the land is $15,040, according to the Mercer County Auditor's website.

Both Scott and councilman Jeff Larmore ultimately voiced support for keeping the parking lot as it is.

"We have no parking down there. People park there. People park there for the boat races. People park there for Lake Festival," Scott said. "I say keep it status quo. It's not costing us anything. So be it."

The people maintaining the lot are the ones using it on a daily basis, Larmore pointed out, adding the city wouldn't get much for the property anyway.

"I think you either sell it or you keep it the way it is. There's nothing kind of in-between on this one," Larmore said.

Council members then unanimously moved to postpone indefinitely the ordinance, effectively killing the legislation.

Hazel also pointed out that the parking lot is positioned on a dangerous curve without a crosswalk connecting it across the street.

Sovinski suggested erecting a fence or barrier of some kind to prevent people from walking out directly into the street.

"I think we can certainly do that," Hazel replied.

Scott, however, was unconvinced of the need for a fence or barricade.

"We don't have barriers up on any of the streets that keep people from jaywalking across Main Street," he noted.