By Michael Howell
Although the Stevensville Town Council had it on the agenda last week to set a date for a public hearing to take public comment on a proposed land swap with ranch owner Roy Capp to facilitate the construction of a fishing access and boat launch site at the Stevensville bridge, no date was set. Instead, it was agreed that the Park Board would take up consideration of the proposal, analyze it, and make some recommendation. Mayor Jim Crews will also be seeking the Town Attorney’s opinion about the legality of the proposal.
At the meeting, former mayor Gene Mim Mack questioned the authority of the council to even consider such a proposal. He said state law governing a municipality’s authority to sell or trade property that has been declared to be a public park requires that the town get an independent appraisal to establish the value of the properties and that the trade be of equal value.
Senator Fred Thomas, when he presented the Capps’ proposal on September 8, stated that the trade was not a 1:1 swap. He said the appraisal did not consider economic and social values, but that the public could consider them in the overall deal.
(Senator Thomas contacted the Star after the previous story to clarify that he was not representing the Capps but was working towards a resolution of the situation on behalf of the public.)
A small triangular wedge of land in town owned by the Capps, about 1.26 acres along the Eastside Highway, was added to the deal a few months ago but was not part of the appraisal. With that land included, the Town still comes out about 3.6 acres short on the deal, dropping from 22.93 acres on the river to 19.29 acres with 1.29 of that being the wedge in town.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 Supervisor Randy Arnold and FAS director Rory Zarling both spoke in support of the exchange, calling the deal “a win/win/win” situation. Zarling said his agency was willing to commit the resources to develop and maintain the site. He estimated that the necessary improvements would cost about $250,000. It would include placement of a concrete latrine and development of 27 truck and trailer parking spots and 14 single vehicle parking spaces. He said the agency had determined that it would be more environmentally sound to leave the gravel bank the way it is for boat launching rather than try and build a concrete ramp.
The Council tried to reword the resolution as a public meeting but in the end decided that this would be in conflict with the agenda item as listed.
A resolution was discussed, giving direction to the Park Board about what tasks it should be pursuing. Some question was raised as to whether the resolution was designed to keep the Park Board from taking up with the land swap proposal. Park Board Chairman Raymond Smith said that it was park land and that is what the Board was established to deal with.
Councilor Clay Freeman proposed a resolution that included River Park as one issue on the table for the board. That resolution was also questioned as ambiguous. In the end, it was made clear that the Park Board was expected to take up with the proposal, investigate it, and make some recommendation.
Mayor Crews said on Monday that he would be seeking clarification of the issues raised with the Town’s attorney.