Commissioners debate sale of PD owned property

IMLAY CITY — A proposed property sale turned contentious at last week’s Imlay City Commission meeting, as city officials clashed over whether to knock $40,000 off the purchase price of 542 Cedar St. to cover brownfield environmental remediation.

The building, currently owned by the Imlay City Police Department following a forfeiture, costs the department $35,000 a month to maintain. 

While commissioners previously approved selling the property to a buyer planning to establish a business there, an inspector subsequently recommended investigating potential contamination beneath the site, prompting the buyer to request the $40,000 price drop.

Most commissioners favored accepting the reduced price to finalize the deal quickly, cut ongoing department maintenance costs, and avoid losing the buyer. 

However, Commissioner Stu Davis pushed back, advocating for a 45-day delay to obtain independent estimates.

“I think before we do that, we want to get a contract to see how much it could have cost to dig it up and replace it,” Davis said. “If we get a contractor for $5,000, why give them 40?”

Downtown Development Authority Commissioner Chuck Bennett countered that the brownfield process protects the city’s investment while benefiting both parties through long-term tax increment financing rather than a direct cash discount.

“The brownfield doesn’t cut 40 grand to the buyer,” Bennett explained. “We would have to go through the buyer and work with a company and have a remediation plan made. They would present that plan to the brownfield board … and if everything’s done properly, they can get that back over a course of years [as] property value increases.”

Inspectors advised the buyer to complete a Phase I environmental site assessment to review historical property records and identify potential risks. That assessment has not yet been conducted.

Commissioners ultimately voted to table the sale and extend the decision for 45 days.

The Imlay City Commission meets at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Imlay City Municipal Offices, 150 N. Main St., Imlay City.