Bothwell: Bill Stanley “Certainly Knew” He Was Selling The Park

At last night’s Buncombe County Commission Candidate debate, Cecil Bothwell lit some fireworks in his closing statement by calling out the incumbents for their failures. He first pointed out the raw stupidity of letting Progress Energy write their own lease for 80 acres of riverfront property. The Commission didn’t even negotiate or pursue alternatives. They just signed it over for $1/year with the added bonus that Progress could do anything they wanted there.

Bothwell’s second assertion drove home the point that the Commission has done too much in secret and too much that raises ethical questions about their behavior. Bothwell noted that Bill Stanley used to own the Hayes & Hopson building, now owned by Big Developer Stewart Coleman. Stanley had his Barbecue & Bluegrass restaurant there. Stanley sold it to Wallace Hyde some years ago. Hyde then sold it to Coleman. This property is adjacent to the piece of public parkland that the Commission sold to Coleman for $278,000 less than the County’s tax appraisal.

“I never sold a piece of property in my life without knowing where the corners were,” Bothwell said last night, indicating that when the parcel of public parkland came before the Commission to be sold, Bill Stanley would have known exactly what he was selling. Stanley bought a piece of property next to that parcel and then sold it. It is impossible to believe that he performed both of those transactions without the knowledge of the park. As late as July, 2007, after it was clear that the Commission sold public parkland, Commissioner Stanley said in an AC-T article, “I have no problem with (the sale) at all.”

The whole Parkside deal stinks, there’s no question about that. Commissioner Gantt famously announced, “We screwed up”, when the land deal came to light. However, there are too many question marks in this case to simply shrug our collective shoulders and move on. An investigation is certainly warranted. I have quite a few unanswered questions myself. Such as:

1. Why was former City Planning Director Scott Shuford in meetings with private developer Stewart Coleman, discussing how he might leverage public parkland against city owned property for a potential “swap”?

2. Why did Coleman’s “independent” appraisal of the land not turn up the fact that it is parkland?

3. Why are there two deeds to this property, and why didn’t Register of Deeds, Otto Debruhl, raise an alarm about the deal?

4. Why did Coleman’s “independent” appraisal value the land at $322,000, while the County appraisal valued it at $600,000?

5. Why was the land then revalued at just $306,000 for tax purposes, saving Coleman about $3,200 in yearly taxes?

6. Why was this slipped onto the Commission’s consent agenda instead of having public hearing?

7. When did County staff know this was public parkland? When did they tell the Commissioners?

8. What were the circumstances surrounding Scott Shuford’s resignation just months after the land deal?

9. Mountain Xpress, “Pay a visit to the Register of Deeds office in the county courthouse, however, and they’ll show you an aerial photo with a map overlay that clearly shows a pink property line extending well into what is now parkland—including the big magnolia and other trees in front of City Hall. Did anyone in county government look at that image before the sale was made?”

Commissioner Gantt has stated that he has, “unsuccessfully worked hard behind the scenes since this ill-advised sale took place to correct the situation.” The other commissioners haven’t raised any concerns about the sale.

Until this shoddy deal is fully investigated, anyone involved will be part of the growing number of suspicious circumstances surrounding it. Bothwell is rightly bringing these issues to the forefront, and all of the incumbent commissioners will have to answer for it.