State Board Approves Lavender Lot Parcel Sale

UPDATED (12:16 p.m.) The state Board of Public Works Wednesday morning approved the sale of a portion of the Lavender Avenue parking lot.

The sale to to the Baltimore County Revenue Authority for $53,950 clears the way for the county agency to sell the property in turn to a developer.

Towson-based DMS Development plans to purchase the property for $530,000. The company plans to build a Walgreens on the current site of the 56-space public parking lot.

Community leaders have opposed the sale saying the parking is important to the economic viability of adjacent businesses. The authority promised to earmark of the land to go specifically to the Parkville community.

Comptroller Peter Franchot voted against the sale after questioning the appraised value first raised by a state delegate from Parkville.

Del. John Cluster, in a letter to state officials last month, criticized the sale price because it is far below two independent appraisals that value the land between $160,000 and $233,000.

"Whenever we buy land we're always buying things at the highest appraisal and whenever we sell land we seem to sell for the lowest appraisal," Franchot said Wednesday morning.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and state Treasurer Nancy Kopp voted to approve the sale.