KISSIMMEE — Two appraisals for a huge chunk of land the county is poised to buy from the prominent Partin ranching family show it is worth about the $25 million contract price.
However, neither calculation may fully take into account the large amount of wetlands on the site or other issues that could slash the value.
Smith-Parke & Co. of St. Cloud puts the value of the 1,620 acres on Neptune Road between Kissimmee and St. Cloud at $24 million. Clayton, Roper, Marshall of Altamonte Springs set the market value of the 1,598 acres it counts there at $25 million.
County Commissioner Atlee Mercer, though, questions whether those estimates would be different without, as one appraisal report put it, “extraordinary assumptions.” Those assumptions reduce the amount of wetlands that county staffers have calculated and don’t factor in the lakebed the Partins are allowed to own but not sell without the state’s permission.
“It just seems to me that with the budget issues we face, we cannot risk not knowing all the facts before we make a $25 million decision,” Mercer said.
He wants to put together a review committee of residents including a developer, broker and resident living in the area to look into the questions raised and make a recommendation to commissioners.
There is time for such a review. Commissioners agreed last month to try to scrape together the cash to buy the land, even if it means cutting money from other funds to pay for it.
Although commissioners stopped short of a full-blown commitment to buy the land, a timeline for a deal to take place should be ready sometime this month, and the deal itself is expected within the next year.
Other commissioners appear ready to stick with that plan. Commissioner Chuck Dunnick, who initiated the deal, said he opposes Mercer’s proposal because it would change the direction commissioners already agreed on. If the money can be found, Dunnick said, the project could be brought in under next year’s budget, which begins Oct. 1.
Opponents of Mercer’s idea also worry that a review committee could set a bad precedent of challenging consultants when officials don’t like their reports.
“That’s their professional opinion,” Commissioner Ken Shipley said of the appraisals. “It’s not right to put together a lay committee to review what a professional, licensed group has already done.”
The commission is still expected to bring up Mercer’s proposal at a future meeting. If nothing else, there may be pressure to answer discrepancies in the appraisals.
For instance, the Clayton report estimates that only 55 percent, or 878 acres, of the area is wetlands. County staff’s estimate had wetlands covering slightly more land, 58 percent, or 940 acres. Of that, about 300 acres are lakebed and could be claimed by the state during a sale.
The county has also questioned whether the pumps the family now runs to keep the lakebed drier could be transferred to the county in a sale. Part of the land is considered lakebed and, if the family gives up its right to the pumps, the state may lay claim to that land.
In addition, both reports compared property in the region, including Polk County, recently sold for residential development. The appraisers said the Partin land, now zoned for agricultural use, would be best developed as homes.
Mercer said the county needs to do its homework before completing the sale.
“It’s a major purchase,” Mercer said.
“It’s a good idea. But we have an obligation to do our due diligence. I want to move forward to answer these questions now, so when we get to how to budget it, we have a handle on it.”
