CONNEAUT —
City Council in Conneaut wants administrators to keep working on a complicated property deal that could keep a yacht-building business at work.
Council, encouraged by a progress report from Law Director David Schroeder, urged officials to continue talks with Eastport Sailing Yachts regarding their possible acquisition of a Harbor Street building they have occupied the past several months.
“It’s nice to see some progress being made,” Ward 1 Councilman Doug Hedrick said at the Monday night meeting of his economic development committee.
Eastport and its half-dozen employees are sub-leasing a building owned by Broad and Jackson LLC, based in Pennsylvania. The building has been the subject of a legal tug-and-war over more than $380,000 the city says its owed for flattening an abandoned factory on the property many years ago. The city has liens on the company and is in position to acquire the parcel and the building occupied by Eastport.
Eastport, which officials believe has some connection to Broad and Jackson LLC, is willing to take possession of the building and make repairs if the liens are forgiven, officials have said. City leaders have been guarded in their reaction.
Consultants have detected pollutants in the soil on some of the big parcel, but a large section near Broad Street is clean and could be obtained by the city and marketed to developers. Proceeds from the sale, along with a commercial building returned to good condition, would help negate the loss of tax lien money if the deal is sealed, council was told.
Schroeder repeated his belief the deal carries risks, but also said the Eastport deal may be the city’s best bet to date.
“It’s the only solid proposal we have,” he said. “It’s worth taking to the next step.”
The next step may be to delineate the uncontaminated chunk of the parcel and obtain an appraisal, Schroeder said. County Auditor Roger Corlett will also be consulted on the tax lien situation.
Council was encouraged an end to the years-long legal tussle could be coming to an end. “It’s the best solution to a bad situation,” said Councilman-at-large Neil LaRusch.
In other business, the committee heard from members of Stateline Sno-Trackers, a Conneaut-based snowmobile club seeking ways to expand legal trail access for sledders within the city limits. Specifically, members would like designated locations when sleds can legally cross routes 20 and 7, as well as a designated trail to the businesses in the Port of Conneaut district.
On the latter issue, Ward 2 Councilman John Roach, a former Public Works Department director, said the city used to mow and maintain a swatch of land above a sanitary sewer line that links the downtown to the harbor. That path could accommodate sledders, he said.
Roach said the land may actually be an easement granted the city by Canadian National, owners of the Pittsburgh and Conneaut Dock Co. City administrators will check to see if CN would object to opening the sewer line easement path to snowmobilers.
