Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Sale topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Herriman City Council pauses last-minute offer on land tied to rabbi's transfer agreement
Summary
Council members agreed to postpone consideration of a last-minute investor offer to buy a property subject to a previously approved land-transfer agreement after staff said an investor would not sign a required acknowledgment and cited a hard Wednesday deadline for the sale.
Herriman City Council on Monday agreed to continue consideration of agenda item 2.1 after members said a recent investor offer and an expedited timeline lacked critical details.
Todd, a city staff member, told the council that at its prior meeting the council approved a land transfer agreement related to property intended for development and that the agreement required investor acknowledgments. Todd said an investor declined to sign that acknowledgment after the agreement was recorded and that Ray Brown, identified in the discussion as the mortgage broker between the project partner referred to as "MLM" and an investor, asked whether a direct sale was an option. According to Todd, the potential buyer would only proceed if the sale closed by Wednesday and proposed to buy the parcel at a discount and move forward with a narrower development timeline than the agreement previously envisioned.
The proposal prompted concern among council members about the speed and substance of the offer. An unidentified councilmember said the council had held a brief closed session but still lacked information needed to make an informed decision and that acting under the special-meeting time pressure would not serve residents well. Another councilmember criticized the purchaser's proposed price and said the smaller project footprint and reduced public-improvement commitments differed materially from earlier expectations.
"We had a brief closed session ... I think there's a lot of information we're missing, and to make the best decision, I think we need to figure that out," one councilmember said during discussion. Another said that the "offer to purchase the property was nowhere, at least in my estimation, nowhere near the amount that would serve the public's needs."
Following that exchange, an unidentified councilmember moved to continue item 2.1 to the council's next regular meeting on Wednesday. Tara seconded the motion. During oral roll call the council recorded votes as follows: Tara — Yes; Sherry — Yes; Teddy — Yes; Jared — Yes; and the presiding officer voted Yes. The motion to continue passed.
No formal contract or sale was approved during the special meeting. Council members said they wanted more information before deciding whether to accept a discounted sale, ensure the buyer would meet previously discussed public-improvement obligations, and verify any deadlines cited by the investor. The council scheduled the item for discussion at its next regular meeting on Wednesday.
The special meeting adjourned after the vote.
