County parks may sell parcel
Sean HarkinsThe Alpena County Parks Commission soon may be selling a piece of property and using the profits to improve area parks.
The commission had leased the 80-acre parcel of land for farming up until last year.
Commission Chairman Gary Rondeau said the commission learned taxes would have to be paid on the property if any money was made off of it. Rondeau said the money made on the lease wasn't even enough to cover the taxes.
The property, which is located on Hubbard Lake Road just north of Nicholson Hill Road, appraised for $150,500, but that did not include mineral rights, Rondeau said. He said there is a well on the property, likely for natural gas collection.
An offer was made to an interested buyer for $170,000, which included all mineral rights.
"We haven't heard from the people that are interested," Rondeau said.The land is not currently used by the public for recreation purposes. The property originally served as "the county farm."
"There was a farm house for delinquent boys out there that they had years ago," Rondeau said. "Then (the county) sold the house off and kept the rest of the land."
If the county were to sell the property, proceeds from the sale would stay in the parks commission budget and could only be used for park improvements.
"The money would go into our fund for capital improvements only, which would mean bathrooms, electrical, stuff like that. We can't use it for wages or miscellaneous expenses," Rondeau said.
The commission recently updated the electrical system at Sunken Lake Park and would like to do the same for Beaver Lake and Long Lake parks. Other recent capital improvements include installing a new well at Beaver Lake Park and chipping in $20,000 on a road improvement project at Long Lake Park.
Revenue from the potential sale of the property could go a long way since other revenue sources have been cut out of the county's budget, Rondeau said.
"The parks have been operating on just revenue from the campers, we have not received any money from the county to operate the parks in the last five or six years," he said.
Rondeau said there is no time table for the sale of the property, since it isn't costing anyone money as it is.
Sean Harkins can be reached via e-mail at sharkins@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.
