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Disclosure Rules Complicate City's Bid For Dilapidated Lot

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 13, 2007

PORT RICHEY - It's not easy for a city government to negotiate a real estate purchase.

For one, public records laws make every document - from appraisals to e-mails between city officials - available to the seller. And the discussions must be conducted in a public meeting, which means the seller knows nearly every move the buyer is making.

It's something that has complicated the city council's efforts to purchase a dilapidated mobile home park in a crime-ridden east end neighborhood.

Tuesday night, the council voted 3-2 to tentatively move forward with negotiations to buy the 1.7-acre riverfront property at Grand Boulevard and River Gulf Road.

At present, the asking price is $847,500.
City officials have made several other offers and all were turned down.

The park, which is in foreclosure and has several liens on it, is owned by a St. Petersburg-based company listed on records as Port Richey Mobile Home Park, Inc.

The county has put the combined value of the park's two parcels at $893,710, while a city-commissioned appraisal came up with $853,000. The city originally offered the seller $785,000.

Wrangling over a purchase price has been complicated by the fact officials are required by state law to discuss the deal in public, videotaped meetings.

"It's difficult," said Interim City Manager Jim Mathieu, who is also city attorney. "It means the person I'm negotiating with can watch a video of the conversations with my clients."

And it means that negotiating tactics used in the private sector are out of the question.

In foreclosure sales, for example, a buyer could go to the bank holding the mortgage to make a lower offer or bid on the property when a judge orders its sale.

So far, city officials are unwilling to do either.

"I've never heard of a city government standing on the courthouse steps to bid on a foreclosed property," Mathieu told council members. "Theoretically, we could do it."

If approved, the park purchase will be financed by the city's Community Redevelopment Fund. The fund, which gets nearly half of the city and county property taxes paid, is expected to be more than $2.6 million this fiscal year.

Not everyone supports spending nearly one-third of the CRA account.

"This is a bad idea, guys," Councilman Mark Hashim said Tuesday night.

"We should get rid of the trailers. It's far easier and will save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Hashim also questioned the lack of a redevelopment plan and suggested the city would do better by taking the owner to court and condemning the abandoned mobile homes.

"Why haven't we tried that?" he fumed. "We're buying this without a clear vision."

Building official Ed Winch said the city has declared the homes condemned, but because they're on private property the city would need a court order to tear them down.

"We can't arbitrarily go in and bulldoze the property," he told council members.

Mathieu added that such a move - in the midst of negotiations - would be "improper."

"We can't negotiate with a property owner under the threat of condemnation," he said.

Vice Mayor Nancy Britton and Councilman Dale Massad argued for the purchase, saying the property is an eyesore and a major source of criminal activity in the neighborhood.

"This is the most blighted area in the city," Massad said.

"That's what the CRA is for."

The discussion continued late into Tuesday night.

After several hours, council members voted to move ahead with the deal, pending the results of a second independent real estate appraisal and an environmental study of the property.

Above them, on the ceiling, the video camera was rolling.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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