LIMA — Issues with easements on a parcel of land in Gateway Industrial Park has forced the Port Authority of Allen County to reduce the asking price for a previously agreed-on land sale.
In January, the port authority and Lima-based commercial real estate developer Allen County Leasing Inc. reached an agreement to buy 27 acres of land, 24 of which would be developable, along Fort Shawnee Industrial Drive for $495,000. However, after a survey of the land, it was discovered that there were three issues with the land unknown to the port authority at the time of the agreement, prompting an agreement Thursday during the port authority board meeting to reduce the sale price to $400,000.
“When the county commissioners gave us all this land, they didn’t give us any records, so we had no idea what was there,” port authority executive director Jerry Arkbauer said.
First, the survey found there was a storm sewer easement on the property that had not been used. In addition, there was a transmission pipeline easement totaling 2.15 acres on the property. Finally, a half acre of the property had been designated a wetlands area. All three issues reduced the amount of land that could be developed.
“As we found out, there were only 19 acres of usable land, rather than 24,” according to Allen County Leasing president Sam Halker.
During the meeting, a discussion on these issues found that the issues of the storm sewer easement and the wetlands could be mitigated.
“The storm sewer easement can be removed with the permission of the adjacent property owners, which would be PCS Nitrogen and PPG Industries,” Arkbauer said. “The wetland area can be offset by buying two or three times the number of acres that is in the wetland you are going to disturb. In fact, the Toledo Port Authority had a 0.89-acre wetland at the Toledo airport, and they bought credits off the site for $96,000.”
Once these issues are resolved, it would leave 22 usable acres for the developer, which could still work for its plans for the property, according to Halker.
“We have a couple of different businesses that have approached us to develop it, dependent on what we could make use of,” he said.
