Minutes 03-17-2026-Business Meeting

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21 Commissioner McKee said he believed that the property would bring in more than $25,000 an acre. David Stancil said it may be helpful to look at the recent revaluation assessment. Commissioner Greene said she would take an appraisal at face-value. Commissioner Carter said housing is an important point of the strategic plan and she will look for opportunities with county-owned property. She asked if the Board would investigate using a portion of the property for housing. Commissioner Portie-Ascott echoed Commissioner Carter's comments and asked if it is possible for some of the land to be set aside for housing. Commissioner Bedford said a study was done in 2018 on the possibility of housing on the property, and the costs were prohibitive. She said there are other potential properties with access to water and sewer. She said potential buyers need to know about easements for future trails on the property. She said she wanted to sell the land for recreation. She said she did not want a public-private partnership. She expressed concern about negotiating after multiple offers are received. She highlighted item 5 in the proposed uses; she said it should say "for the public purpose of recreation use." She expressed concerns that the ownership should revert to Orange County if any time the buyer doesn't meet the stipulated conditions. She wanted to put conditions in to be fair to a buyer who may not be able to meet conditions long-term. She said item 4.1 says that prospective buyers shall have experience with the express purpose for this site, and the operation and management of athletic field facilities with similar or greater size and complexity. She said that would potentially cut Rainbow Soccer out. She asked that"similar size" be removed and for prospective buyers to just describe their experience. She did not want to eliminate people off the bat. She highlighted item 3.3 and said that the weighting seemed to be off, and the Board should discuss it further. Commissioner Greene said she is comfortable knowing that there was an appraisal and that there will be multiple bidders. She said Commissioner Bedford's points about the criteria were good. She asked where conditions were outlined in the document, as that is part of the weighted criteria. David Stancil said they were in section one, the proposal contents of section 2.6, and the scope of services. He said that they can revise the document and create a conditions section. Commissioner Greene said more specificity would help. Vice-Chair Fowler said there was vagueness in the criteria. She said she was comfortable with the previous appraisal. She said she did not see a need for setting a price, but she would like to see a buyer that was going to serve Orange County residents. She said she would like to see an emphasis on the number of Orange County residents that would be served. She said that the land was purchased for recreation. She said the difficulty and expense of building affordable housing on the site would make the housing unaffordable by the time it it's built. Chair Hamilton asked which commissioners wanted to consider using the property for housing. Commissioners McKee, Carter, and Portie-Ascott indicated they would like to see affordable housing on the property. Chair Hamilton, Vice-Chair Fowler, and Commissioners Bedford and Greene did not want to change the purpose. Commissioner McKee said it was a large portion of land for recreation. Chair Hamilton said that is what the Board had discussed in November. Commissioner McKee expressed concern about the costs to the county for future recreational use. Chair Hamilton said the proposal is to solicit offers for fields and anything else is way in the future. She said the Board needs to decide if they want to move forward with the solicitation document. She said the Board needs to decide if they want to set a recommended price for the property.