Payette board OKs surplus land blueprint

By JESSICA KELLER - ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, September 9, 2007 3:53 AM PDT

PAYETTE - The Payette City Council voted to declare a piece of property adjacent to the Payette Municipal Airport as surplus with the intent to sell the land at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The land in question is approximately 66 acres southwest of the airport currently owned by the city. The land was also an area of interest for an agri-business consultant agency, Cartell, Inc., Huston, Idaho, as a potential location for a private, gated airpark.

The airpark idea was proposed to the council in early June, and while the council did not approve the airpark concept, council members did agree to have the land appraised at the company’s expense and consider selling the land in the future.

Tuesday, council members agreed to move forward on a potential plan to sell the property, although the land has not been earmarked for an airpark. First the City Council must have a public hearing regarding the declaration of the land as surplus and setting a minimum price on its value.

Payette Mayor Doug Henderson said city officials still had more work to do before a hearing is scheduled, but he said much of that will be completed before the next City Council meeting.

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He also did not have a timeline as to when a public auction will be held. While the airpark concept spurred the city to take action on selling the property, an airpark is not a certainty.

“We have had multiple inquiries in the past,” Henderson said about the property, from different developers and interested parties. “We can’t just say we’re going to sell it to the airpark (developers). This is public land, and it’ll go up for a public bid, so there’s still a lot of factors that it has to go through.”

Henderson said the property could be sold to potentially anyone after it is put up for auction. He said the council also has the ability to reject a bid.

Henderson said the council decided to declare the land as surplus and have a public auction because there has been interest expressed in the property, and “right now it isn’t being used for anything, and it hasn’t been used for anything for many years.”

If the land is sold to airpark developers, according to the preliminary proposal submitted to the council in June, the vacant property could be developed into more than 60 higher-end houses with airport hangars. Based on preliminary numbers the houses with hangars could be priced in the $250,000 to $300,000 range. The proposed community would also have access to the airport. According to a report provided to the city from Cartell, Inc., the project is estimated to increase the tax base of the city by a minimum of $26 million.

Also during the City Council meeting, the council approved entering into an agreement with Base to Final, LLC, allowing the company to put up another airport hangar at the airport and lease the nine intended stalls. Henderson said the agreement was not related to the proposed airpark.