Council approves agreement selling 9 subdivision lots

WASHINGTON - All of the lots in Plat 1 of the NLW Subdivision have been purchased by a construction company and will be built within the next three years, according to an agreement.

The Washington City Council approved an agreement with Matt Lepic of Matnic to purchase nine of the lots.

The purchase price was $207,850, the price of the lots minus a 3 percent real estate agent fee.

City Administrator Brent Hinson said Lepic plans to build three homes initially and then start additional builds as the homes sell.

'His goal would be to not have more than two homes unsold at a time,” Hinson said.

The agreement gives Lepic three years to complete all nine lots.

During the public forum, Dale Torpey asked why other contractors in the areas were not given three years s to build a house on the lots. The requirement for other builders is that a house must be built within 18 months, Hinson said.

Torpey said other builders in the area should have been given the same opportunity. He said he would buy a property on the plat if he were given 36 months to build it. He added the reason they did not buy one was because the derecho brought building costs up.

'Over the next three years they may come back in line and be worth buying one of those lots,” he said.

Hinson said the rules are not changed, and it is an 'apples and oranges difference” between a single lot and nine lots.

He said it is in the interest of the city to have all lots built within 36 months. If the lots are sold to individual buyers with three years to build, there will be many unbuilt homes, he said.

'The longer you give it, the more on a whim people will buy a lot and sit on it,” he said.

He added Lepic can resell lots to other interest parties for up to 125 percent of the list price and the buyer would have 18 months to build.

Mayor Jaron Rosien said Lepic wants to build all nine homes but compromised with the city to allow the other lots to be for sale.

'That was part of what we asked for to not put the city in a bad position if it doesn't go at the ideal rate,” he said.

In the agreement, Lepic indicates he would like to purchase Plat 2 property. There must be a minimum of four houses completed by Lepic before he can submit an offer for the second plat.

'Housing over the last decade has been the issue I have worked on the hardest, and it's the issue we've had the least success,” he said.

This agreement assures there will be houses, Hinson said.