The Petersburg Borough Assembly accepted a local business’ application on August 5 to buy a small piece of borough-owned tideland. It’s the third time in the last year that the assembly has voted to sell its tidelands.
The piece of land in question is right next to another, larger, plot on Dock St. that the Borough recently agreed to sell to Island Refrigeration. The company provides electrical and marine refrigeration services for the Petersburg fleet. At the public hearing on August 5, owner Brock Snider said he’d use the second plot for a warehouse and retail space to sell supplies that the fishing fleet can’t get in town.
“This development is essential for providing our services to the larger fishing vessels, which will bring substantial economic benefit to the borough, while while also allowing us to generate the necessary revenue to survive,” he said.
The assembly was split on whether to move forward with a direct sale to Island Refrigeration. That’s because the borough is in the process of developing a set of standards for the sale of borough-owned tidelands. Snider said he understands the issue and isn’t necessarily in a rush.
“If we need to wait for the zoning overlay, we need to wait for a better plan, I’m totally for that,” he said. “But at the same time, if we were able to somehow move forward with a direct sale, I would be on board and ready for that.”
Until recently, the borough’s policy was to lease its tidelands to marine-related businesses. Money from the lease of the land goes to the Petersburg Harbor Department. 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.
The precedent has been set that the borough will sell its tidelands to marine-related businesses, but that doesn’t match borough regulations. Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson told assembly members officials are drawing up new guidelines for sale and use of tidelands.
“We have an ordinance coming before you with the marine zoning overlay district, and then also an ordinance coming before you to amend chapter 1616, which is the sale of tidelands,” she said.
That includes new zoning rules referred to as the “marine overlay.” Other guidelines would require that anyone buying or leasing borough tideland use it for marine-related business, and they would define how, and for how much, the tideland could be sold. Thompson said the draft will be ready soon.
Once finalized, those guidelines will apply to both previous sales of borough tideland – that was written into the contracts.
Assembly member Thomas Fine-Walsh said it didn’t make sense to postpone the second sale to Island Refrigeration.
“We’ve already decided the vast majority of the property here is going to Island refrigeration LLC,” he said. “You know, there’s a tiny little corner here that is still part of the borough, and it seems unreasonably difficult for the business owner to have to rent a small portion of their parcel and have, like, part of their building on rented property, and part of their building on their property, I feel like that would create a lot of complications with your financing.”
Assembly members Scott Newman and Jeigh Stanton Gregor said they would also be voting to move forward with the sale.
However, the lack of specific guidelines for the sale gave assembly member Donna Marsh pause.
“I think with the marine overlay, it might give us a little more direction,” she said. “And again, I would like to err on the side of caution on this, so I will be voting no.”
Assembly members Bob Lynn and Rob Schwartz agreed, saying they saw no reason to rush the sale.
Mayor Mark Jensen said he saw both sides of the issue, and could go either way. He ended up casting a deciding vote in favor of the sale, which passed 4-3.
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht will now enter into negotiation with owner Brock Snider over the terms of sale. Those details will go before the Assembly at a later date.
Another company, Pacific Rose LLC, also applied to purchase the Dock St. property. The owner did not show up at the public hearing on August 5, and assembly members did not entertain a motion to discuss a sale to the company.
