Crime & Safety

Revenue Authority Makes Lavender Lot Bids Public

The names and bids attached to the Request for Proposals issued by the Revenue Authority were made public on the organization website earlier today.

The quasi-public agency posted the names and bid amounts of three potential buyers on their website, well in advance of a meeting to be held later this month where revenue authority board members plan to discuss the lot.

The bidders and their bids, as listed on the website are:

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Bidder Bid Amount David M. Schlachman
$530,000 Richard Klemkowski $406,101

Joyce A. Devilbiss &
Marlene J. Wagner

$360,000

 

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William "Lynnie" Cook, the revenue authority chief executive, said the five-member board of directors had decided to make the information public in order to help facilitate an open, public discussion at the upcoming meeting.

"When we first took in the bids, we were going to open them and make them public at a board meeting late in April [of 2010]," Cook said.

He explained that the decision was made to keep the bids confidential until through the fall of 2010 at the request of concerned community members who oppose the sale of the parking lot and wanted to issue a proposal of their own.

Autumn rolled around and with it came the decision to again postpone the release of the bid information through the end of election season.

The Lavender Avenue parking lot was set to be discussed at a meeting of the authority board last month. That meeting was cancelled because the requisite number of board members for quorum was unable to attend. The issue will be discussed at a board meeting later this month.

"The board saw fit to release the information in advance of that meeting," Cook said.

As for what the bids mean, Cook explained that the revenue authority board members have the right to accept or reject any bid at any time — even a year after they were first proposed.

He told Patch that pending a decision from the board of directors the revenue authority would either accept and existing bid, re-bid the site, or come up with another solution entirely.

Les Pittler, an authority board member, wants the board to consider other options.

In an interview following the cancelled March board meeting, Pittler said he  intends to raise two motions at the upcoming April meeting. Thee first being that the revenue authority lease the Lavender Avenue parking lot to a community organization, most likely the Parkville-Carney Business Association.

On the phone Friday afternoon, Pittler said the release of the bid information hadn't changed his mind.

"I still plan to introduce the two motions I discussed with you," he said. "I don't see any reason why I shouldn't, and so I will."

Pittler explained that there was precedence for the revenue authority to lease a parking lot to a business or group of businesses set in 2001 when the organization decided to lease the Sherwood Lot in Pikesville.


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