Two companies are vying for a small parcel of borough-owned tideland on Petersburg’s Dock St. The Borough Assembly will hold a public hearing about the sale during their August 8 meeting. Later in the meeting the Assembly will likely decide how to proceed.
Until recently, borough policy was to lease its tidelands to marine-related businesses. But last year the Assembly voted to sell a parcel of land on Dock St. to Wikan Enterprises, a marine diesel repair facility. The longtime owners wanted to sell their business and retire, but the fact that they didn’t own the property underneath the business complicated potential sales.
After that precedent was set, the Borough Assembly voted to sell another plot of land on Dock St. to Island Refrigeration, a company that provides marine refrigeration and electrical services for the Petersburg fleet.
The land in question today is right next to that parcel – and Island Refrigeration would like to buy it as well. But another company, Pacific Rose LLC, also applied to buy the land. That application states that the land would be used for a heated storage shed to protect boats from the weather.
The applicants need to demonstrate a couple things to meet borough requirements. First, they have to show that there’s a reason they need to own the land, instead of just leasing it from the borough. And they need to demonstrate that the borough will benefit from the sale of the tideland.
The assembly has a few options. If they don’t feel either applicant meets the criteria in the borough code, they could deny both applications.
They could accept one application and deny the other, if they believe that one applicant better fits the requirement of borough code. They would then likely vote to negotiate a sale directly with the accepted applicant.
They could also accept both applications. That would essentially open the sale up to the public, in which case anyone interested could bid in an auction.
They could also put off the decision. Right now there’s no clear process for selling borough-owned tideland. But borough officials are currently re-writing requirements, and will present policy proposals to the Borough Assembly in the near future. Those policy changes would make it much more clear how to proceed in this situation.
The assembly also plans to take final votes on two ballot propositions. One would ask voters to approve a $3.5 million bond to fund improvements to Petersburg middle and high school. The other would ask voters to approve nearly $20 million in new debt for the borough’s water and wastewater department. Both have already passed unanimously twice. If they pass today, they will be on the ballot this fall.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly meets in regular session at noon August 8. KFSK will broadcast the meeting live. You can find the agenda on the borough’s website, as well as at kfsk.org.
