This Bears Repeating

From this post.

“The whole Parkside [condominium] deal stinks, there’s no question about that. [Buncombe County] 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.”

Coleman is moving ahead with the process, and the city is wrangling over design and placement. All the while the stench of wrongdoing permeates the entire enterprise and the sale itself is being litgated by the Pack family. City officials need to get firm about this and refuse to have anything to do with it until the issues above are explained.

No investigation, no deal.

You can email City Council (feel free to cut and paste anything I’ve written). Just click here and let them know what you think. Take two minutes today to do this. You’ll be making a stand against this kind of dirty deal-making.