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Halifax County defers decision on $75,000 unsolicited offer from Center For Energy Education
Summary
The board heard an unsolicited $75,000 offer to buy roughly 27 acres at the county's old airport site from the Center For Energy Education. Commissioners asked for more information about assessed land value, remaining lease income, county investments in the property, and projected community benefits and deferred action to the Jan. 21 meeting.
Halifax County officials on Monday deferred action after receiving an unsolicited $75,000 offer from the Center For Energy Education to buy about 27 acres of county-owned property at the former airport site.
County Attorney Glenn Rollins told the Board of Commissioners the county has a lease on the property that runs through June 30, 2040; the lease currently produces yearly payments and the county would gain the improvements and land at the end of the term. Rollins said the county has remaining lease payments to receive and yields annual property tax payments on the site.
Commissioners and staff also reviewed county investments tied to the property: the county spent more than $1,000,000 to address FAA restrictions when the land was repurposed, and it invested about $73,000 in paving the site's parking lot. Rollins noted assessor records list improvements on the site valued at roughly $560,600 and said the parcel is part of a larger 300-acre tract primarily leased for utility-scale solar.
Several commissioners asked for further financial context before accepting or rejecting the offer. Vice Chair Shinoa Richardson Davis and others requested (1) the assessor's land value for the 27-acre parcel separated from the larger 300-acre assessment, (2) a calculation of the county's remaining lease revenue, (3) an accounting of prior county investments tied to the parcel, and (4) assessments of likely economic-development outcomes if the county retains the site or accepts the sale.
Kathy Scott, director of economic development, said the parcel adjoins a larger area leased for solar and that keeping county ownership had been an intentional economic-development policy in past board decisions. Representatives of the Center For Energy Education were present and available to answer questions.
After extended public discussion and questions about potential restrictions, tax treatment, and the legal upset-bid process required for county property sales, the board directed staff and counsel to produce a white paper with tax values, lease-income calculations and options for deed restrictions or other conditions, and to return with recommendations at the board's next regular meeting on Jan. 21, 2025.
The board did not vote to accept or reject the offer; it set follow-up work and declined action at the Jan. 6 meeting.
