BERLIN, Md. -- Councilmembers voted on Monday night to move on from Coastal Ventures, the developer the town had been talking to for over a year. The move has lead to frustration, but opened the door for a fresh view on the parks future.
The 3-2 vote came as a surprise to Palmer Gillis, one of the projects developers.
"We're in total shock that they took that step, it was totally unexpected and unannounced," said Gillis.
But in Monday's meeting, Dean Burrell, Council Vice President and one of the officials who voted to end negotiations, said he felt the town needed more time to make up it's mind.
"If we're going to ask somebody like Palmer to come in and do this thing with us, we need to be able to say 'this is what we want included, this is how we want it included and this is what you have to work with'," said Burrell. "But we're not there, we are not there."
Some of the apparent confusion over what is wanted in town was echoed by Gillis.
"We're trying to match their desired goals and we need to know what their goals are before we can implement it or create a plan to implement it," said Gillis.
Gillis had presented the town with plans for a mixed-use commercial site.
Plans that Jack Orris, a Berlin councilmember, was upset to see thrown away so hastily.
"To say I was disappointed is an understatement, a little surprised at how it went as well," said Orris.
Orris said this is a missed opportunity, citing losses of $1.2 million dollars for the property, real estate tax revenue and the chance to rid the town of demolition concerns.
At the front of Heron Park, there is an old abandoned warehouse. The town has a $500,000 grant to demolish the building, but Orris is concerned if the cost is greater than that, it will mean leaning on neighbors.
"I'm not comfortable looking into our residents eyes and saying 'hey, we need to pour more money into this property to cover the demo' when we had an opportunity like this at our feet," said Orris.
Jay Knerr, one of the councilmembers who voted to end negotiations, did provide WBOC with a statement, a part of which highlights the monetary value of parcel 57, the proposed location for Gillis' development.
"I supported the cancelation of the sale for a few reasons. The property has been assigned 36 EDUs which have the equivalent value of over $441,000. This information was only recently disclosed to the council members. Typically, a developer of a property would have to pay for an appropriate amount of both water and sewer EDUs pertaining to their specific plan. When parcel 57 was appraised at a commercial valuation of $1.2 million, this information was not considered. If it has been noted as part of the appraisal, the value would have been much greater. That amount of money is simply too great to just let it pass. It is used to service the debt on our water and sewer bond and it goes towards much needed sewer capital infrastructure each year."
Another part of Knerr's statement addresses concerns over downtown businesses.
"I also felt that in the end this was not the right project for Heron Park. I beleive that having two or more restaurants along with various retail shops would in fact compete directly with our downtown business. If travelers opted to dine at the Heron Park location, I seriously doubt that they would then travel into the downtown area to visit the numerous shops. Berlin downtown has established itself as a unique destination for both dining and shopping. Splintering our choices in different parts of town would have a tremendous impact on downtown business."
It is a possibility that the town forms a committee moving forward to gather input from the community, on what the best plan is for the parcel 57 at Heron Park.