County supervisors seek to sell Main Street lot, again

WASHINGTON — An empty, county-owned lot at 302 West Main Street in Washington is going back on the market as county supervisors revive hopes of selling the property that has previously received a bid for just $8,000.

The real estate has proven tedious for elected officials, who spent roughly $70,000 to buy it, demolish a house previously on the ground, and fill that house’s basement.

Supervisor Stan Stoops said he was feeling buyer’s remorse.

"We’re never going to recover the money we put into it,“ he said. ”If we did pave it and make a parking lot, the amount of cars you could park over there would be small … the truth is, we should’ve gone to a realtor before we bought it.“

On a 4-1 vote Tuesday morning, the Board of Supervisors agreed to open the door for new bids on the property, with a minimum of $15,000. Board Chair Bob Yoder was the lone no vote.

He argued that the motion set the price too low, despite informal opinions from two real estate agents and the Washington Economic Development Group naming the sum as a rough estimate of the plot’s value.

"My thought is, $15,000 seems like a very cheap price for something downtown,“ he said. ”If that’s all we can get out of it, I’d have a hard time to vote yes on it. To me, I think $20-$30,000 would be a bargain, even in a small town like Washington … if we can’t get any more for it than that, I would prefer just to keep it.“

Others said they saw little merit in holding onto the property.

Originally planned for use as a parking lot or storage shed, both ideas were scrapped since the land’s purchase thanks to its small size, newly available space at the now demolished old jail building, and the city’s resistance to a gravel surface in town.

“If we have a plan for what we want to do with it, we should be planning or doing something with it,” Supervisor Marcus Fedler said. “If we don’t, it might make some sense to see if we can find somebody that’s interested in developing it into something more than somewhere we have to continue to mow and shovel sidewalks.”

It’s not clear exactly when the county plans to formally consider any bids. Standard procedures require at least a few weeks of waiting after posting a public notice, and with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, elected officials said they may wait as late as January of 2024 before accepting a bid in a public meeting.

Until then, the lot seems likely to remain vacant.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com