Lavender Lot Decision Delayed

A state panel has delayed the sale of a small state-owned portion of a public parking lot in Parkville for at least two weeks and possibly longer.

The state Board of Public Works was initially scheduled to take up the request to sell the two-tenths of an acre portion of Lavender Avenue parking lot on Oct 31.

Comptroller Peter Franchot, one of the three members of the panel along with Gov. Martin O'Malley and state Treasurer Nancy Kopp, requested that the sale be pulled from the agenda.

"There were a number of concerns from local elected officials, business and community leaders that were brought to [Franchot's] attention," an aide to Franchot said.

Included in those concerns was a letter sent to the board by Del. John Cluster raising concerns about the sale price.

The Baltimore County Revenue Authority has agreed to purchase the state-owned portion of the property for $52,950. Cluster, in a letter to state officials, criticized the sale price because it is far below two independent appraisals that value the land between $160,000 and $233,000.

The authority intends to sell the entire property to Towson-based DMS Development, who intends to build a Wallgreens on the property.

Wednesday's board meeting was ultimately cancelled because of the remnants of Hurricane Sandy. The sale could be added back to the agenda for the board's next meeting in two weeks but other state officials say there are other concerns that could create an additional delay.

Of primary concern is an agreement between the Revenue Authority and community groups to provide $100,000 of the $500,000 sale price to community groups.

That arrangement was not previously known to Board of Public Works staff until an article published last week by Patch and a letter sent Oct. 31 by Councilmembers Cathy Bevins and David Marks.