Washington County rejects sole bid on land lot

WASHINGTON — County officials balked at the single bid submitted for commercially-zoned, county-owned lot west of the courthouse, at 302 West Main Street. where supervisors said they’d spent upward of $70,000 on a demolition, basement fill-in, and asbestos removal.

The lone bid was for $8,000.

“You can role that up and throw it away,” Supervisor Stan Stoops said after the offer was unsealed.

D.W. Developments Representative Andy Drahota, who submitted the bid, said it was a reasonable asking price for the real estate.

“Another lot that’s three eighths of an acre went for a listing this morning of $17,000, to give you an idea of what land is going for,” Drahota said at the meeting. “The lot you guys have is only 66 x 82 … the actual buildable area of that is pretty tiny. So the value of the land is pretty small without getting some variances.”

The board voted to restart their effort to sell the lot, this time hiring a real estate agent to list the property, the identity of which will be determined by the board’s chair and vice chair. Supervisor Richard Young said he wished that had been the approach from the start.

“My opinion back then was to have a Realtor or somebody appraise that property,” Young said. “We still, to this day, don’t know what that lot’s worth.”

County Auditor Dan Widmer said he hoped a more focused effort to get the word out would improve the asking price.

“Maybe we didn’t do a good job marketing it,” he said. “Or people failed to do it based on what we have invested in that property, just making assumptions on what kind of price you would accept.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com