Land parcel proposals miss target

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December 1, 2006

By Jane Smith The Meadville Tribune Fri Dec 01, 2006, 09:45 PM EST

12/02/06 — CONNEAUT LAKE — It was back to square one Friday for planning the strategy for the future of Conneaut Lake Park after no bids were received to purchase the 3.3 acres of land the park had offered for sale.

Instead, only two proposals were received — neither of which matched park officials’ request, according to LeRoy Stearns, court-appointed overseer, and George Deshner, general manager.

The park had sought proposals for purchase of 3.3 acres of land at the park. Hopes were to raise enough funds to pay the majority of the $2.2 million debt the park has incurred over the past 10 years.

“Neither put in a bid (to buy) on the property,” said Stearns. Instead, the two — both from local developers — presented other proposals. “They were for larger development and much larger parcels of the park,” said Stearns. “They were not on target for what we were looking for at this point.”

Proposals were received from Conneaut Lake Park Redevelopment Partnership, with Jeff Davenport of West Mead Township as president; and Universal Development Corp. of Girard, Ohio, with Ron Anderson of Conneaut Lake as president.

Stearns said he and Deshner will “re-evaluate all the information we have got, and come up with a course of action (for the next step).”

One option could be to readvertise the bids for proposals in more areas.

“I’m surprised (to not receive any bids),” he said. His surprise was based on the number of contacts he had received when the announcement was made to sell part of the park property. He received more than 20 calls, including several from California, Pittsburgh and real estate agents.

The area could be developed to include retail stores and residential areas, Stearns said.

While discussions will be held to determine what action to take next, work on the surveys in three areas — accounting, surveys of properties to determine what is owned by the park, and engineering reviews of the infrastructure — are to be completed by the end of December.

Once those surveys are done, a master plan for the park’s future is expected to be done by mid-February, Deshner said.

The trio of surveys was paid from a state grant and contracts awarded to various companies to do that work. That information is necessary to develop a plan for the future of the 114-year-old amusement park.

Operations of the park came under court control after a former trustee sued other members of the board for an agreement it had with the former owner and operator. During the lawsuit that followed, the park was declared a public trust.

Stearns was appointed overseer in September 2005 and is to serve until Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Vardaro determines his work is done and the park is put back under control of a board of trustees.

Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com

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Land parcel proposals miss target

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