MILTON — CSX Corp. will have to find another buyer for its less than 1-acre downtown property.
The city’s option to purchase the land halted with a tie-breaking vote from Mayor Wesley Meiss during the Dec. 13 City Council meeting.
Council Members Ashley Lay, Patsy Lunsford, Mary Ellen Johnson and Sharon Holley voted against exiting the property purchase; Alan Lowery, Jeff Snow, Peggi Smith and Casey Powell voted against purchasing the property.
The outcome was different compared to last month’s regular council meeting, when Lowery cast the lone vote against purchasing the property.
In addition to believing CSX’s asking price was too high, Lowery said the city could find other use for the money.
“We have been needing bathrooms downtown forever, and we never seem to have the money for bathrooms, and yet we are talking about spending $155,000 for a parking lot,” he said.
The discussion began during the meeting’s ‘ordinances, resolutions and proclamations’ portion. Lowery amended Lay’s motion to approve the proposed budget resolution. The amended motion excluded allocating $155,000 from the general fund to pay for the property.
While CSX’s asking price was $142,000, the budgeted $155,000 included an environmental study, surveying and closing costs, according to City Manager Brian Watkins.
City leaders previously sought the property to accommodate a new county courthouse. However, the courthouse location was called into question following this year’s primary election in which a sales tax referendum needed to fund a new judicial center failed.
Watkins suggested the CSX property could be used for the city’s Riverfront Master Plan, a project aiming to boost economic and tourism growth along the Blackwater River.
Local businessman and former Downtown Redevelopment Advisory Board member Glen Hill said the property would serve a purpose with the master plan.
“When the time comes when other businesses are moving into downtown, along with building and developing into the downtown area, this parking area would be necessary,” Hill said. “The plans for that particular property have been discussed in a number of assets, so when you say ‘parking lot,’ I think that is kind of generalization of what the master plan had set out for it to be, but there were a whole array of other purposes that the property could be used for.”
Some examples that Hill presented included a farmer’s market or an area to benefit the ‘Bands on the Blackwater’ outdoor concert series.
Lay cautioned the council on what exiting the purchasing process could mean for the future.
“When we first entered discussions to figure out the master plan and the courthouse, before we engaged with CSX, we were asked if we were okay to proceed, because it is now or never,” Lay said. “If we don’t purchase this, it may never be an option again.”
In addition to stating he was not in favor of the purchase, and he thought the funds could benefit the city elsewhere, Meiss disagreed with Lay’s notion.
“As I have learned in the business community, never say never,” Meiss said. “I think that money talks if we really had a need for it. I think they would come back.”
Watkins said voting to not purchase the property would come at a price.
“It is going to cost us $14,200 just to get out of the contract now,” he said.
Smith said spending the $14,200 was more cost-effective than spending $155,000.
Lay asked about the possibility of renegotiating with CSX. Lowery said he doubted both sides would come to a reasonable price. He also added the city recently acquired two other properties in the area that could be used for parking.
“I don’t think we need it,” he said. “For me, it’s crazy for us to spend our money on that.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Council: No to downtown property purchase