Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

 The Berlin Mayor and Council continue to discuss the sale of Heron Park’s parcel 57 for $1.2 million as the developers and the town work toward an official agreement.

The Town of Berlin and developers Palmer and Sandy Gillis of Coastal Ventures Properties entered into extended negotiations in July regarding the sale and redevelopment of the former Tyson’s Food processing plant on parcel 57 at Heron Park. Those conversations are ongoing as the municipality and the prospective buyers look to iron out the details and work toward an official contract.

At the Berlin Town Council’s Tuesday, Nov. 12 meeting, the topic was brought up once again as the body discussed the timeline and how to incorporate an access point to Heron Park and the upcoming public works facility and skate park. While the Gillises’ desires were considered, the developers did not attend Tuesday night’s gathering.

Regarding the timeline, Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said that his hope is that the space is operational and functional within 24 months of the sale, following the 180-day due diligence period, during which the developers will identify potential challenges they may face during the project. The 180 days will begin once the property is reclassified to B-2 commercial zoning, which allows great flexibility for uses in the town.

The space does not need to be filled by the end of the 24 months, but Tyndall desires that “the shell be capable of being rented.”

 “We are not saying someone needs to be in the door, but we don’t want it sitting in its current condition,” he said, drawing agreement from the council.

The mayor also noted that a contract with the developers will not be signed until the parcel is rezoned. According to Tyndall, the Gillises requested that the due diligence period begin following the property’s reclassification. To best address this, Tyndall recommends that the Town of Berlin hold off on green-lighting an official agreement until the space is determined as B-2 commercial zoning,

“Handling the things that are some of the contingencies that we can iron out now before we actually sign the agreement will put us in the best possible position,” he said.

The municipality’s governing body also wants to delay signing a contract until the rezoning is advertised and discussed to allow for fair resident input.

“What we didn’t see right was for us to sign [an agreement] and say we are going to have the rezoning take place and then have to go through the public comment period and basically say, ‘yeah, you got your public comment, but we’re not going to listen because we’re going to do it anyway,’” Tyndall said. “This way, we get to hear public comments, so if there is something we’re missing, we get to absorb that information before entering into a contract.”

As such, the proposed timeline would ensure that firstly, parcel 57 is reworked to commercial zoning, the town and the Gillises enter into an official agreement confirming the sale, the 180-day due diligence period begins, and, upon the conclusion of the 180 days, the developers have 24 months to create a functional space.

Tyndall reminded the council and the public that a moratorium, or temporary pause, in place until a planning director is hired would stall any rezoning requests. Berlin has operated without a planning director since Dave Engelhart, the former position holder, passed away in April. Still, the mayor maintained that the town is “working diligently” to fill the vacancy.

Additionally, the Berlin Mayor and Council discussed the intricacies of the roadway that must allow for access to parcel 57 and the intended new public works facility and skate park, which are planned for the surrounding areas. The maintenance portion of public works will be developed on parcel 410 of Heron Park with the planned skate park. When the town and the contractor begin to lay out the facility, they will look at the entire land holistically, including adjacent parcels like 191.

The Gillises have asked that in the arrangement of the roadway, which is estimated to cost $1.1 million to construct, according to Tyndall, the town discuss the possibility of moving the entry point east as close as possible to a parcel on Old Ocean City Boulevard already under private ownership, not Berlin, to make room for parking. Tyndall said that the developers assured the space’s operators are open to the idea but that in return, they would want a “reciprocal amount, if not a little more, in the rear part of their parcel, which is town land.”

The mayor maintained that he was not receptive to that approach, as it would detract from the town’s plan to build a new public works facility and push that project closer to the skate park.

“That was a no-go because it takes away from what we’re trying with that parcel,” Tyndall said. “It would put us closer to the skate park, which I don’t think would look the best aesthetically.”

While Tyndall said the town will entertain negotiations if the developers can create a clean and unambiguous agreement, he recommends that “the roadway that services the skate park, the public work facility, whatever future uses for parcel 410, be a roadway that starts on parcel 57, curves to parcel 191 as quickly as we can by keeping the roadway safe, and staying along the property [the town] has.”

“It will take away a little bit of parking but not much,” the mayor added.

While Councilman Steve Green expressed concern holding firm against the developer’s ask on the entry alignment could jeopardize the sale, Tyndall maintained the obstacle should be easy to overcome.

“I think this is a reasonable request,” he said.

Tyndall said that once the repurposing of parcel 57, the public works facility, and the skate park are underway, he hopes the town will be able to obtain some grant funding to help offset the high price of constructing the road.

A contingency of the sale in the draft contract, which was created in the summer and will be amended to include the information discussed at the Nov. 12 Mayor and Council meeting, maintains that parcel 57 will not be permitted to host pawn shops, gun shops, tanning salons, massage parlors, adult video/bookshops, adult entertainment facilities, check cashing facilities, tattoo parlors, or liquor stores.

With the help of legal firm experienced in government property sales, Tyndall hopes to have an updated draft contract by the start of January, but ideally, “quicker than that.”

“We want to do this deal together, but we want to make sure that in the process of that, we protect the town’s interests, and we make it clean all the way around,” the mayor said.