YORK, Maine — The Davis family is “pursuing other interests” for its 97-acre property on York Street, now that the two-year exclusive agreement between the town and the family to purchase the land has come to an end.
But R. Malcolm Davis, one of three sons of the late Mary McIntire Davis, said the family does not want to end talks with the town.
“It simply means the family has an opportunity to explore other options, but it doesn’t preclude a continuing dialogue with the town of York,” he said. “We still have the door open and we’re still willing to talk to the town fathers about this.”
The Davis property, located in the heart of York Village, is a mix of fields, wetlands and wooded land. Mary Davis’ heirs offered the land to the town for $5.5 million, and gave the town a two-year exclusive window to raise the funds. That period ended Dec. 31.
In a nonbinding question on the May 2014 ballot, townspeople did not support further negotiations with the family for the land at the $5.5 million price. The tally was 931 in favor and 1,532 opposed.
The land in its undeveloped state is currently assessed at $990,100. In March 2014, an appraiser hired by the town set its developed value at $1.38 million — a figure town assessor Rick Mace saw as too low then and now. He had placed the value at $4.3 and $7.9 million, based on the total allowable number of houses, 71, that could be built on the land.
According to Town Manager Steve Burns, the Davis family is willing to lower its price to $5.1 million, agreeing to take off the estimated $400,000 cost for the town to put in an access road to the property.
Davis said the family has to pursue other options now that there is no exclusive on the property, “and that might involve putting the land on the market with other parties.” He said the family is meeting in the next several weeks with “parties who have an interest in developing the land.”
But he still hopes negotiations with the town can bear fruit. The family has a long history of working with the town. Conservationist Mary Davis, a descendent of one of the first families of York, had given the York Land Trust a conservation easement to a salt marsh in the upper reaches of the York River, and Davis and his brothers sold 195 acres of forested wetland to the trust for under its market value of $1.2 million in 2009.
Davis said “it is the strong desire of the family” that the York Street property remain undeveloped as well.
“It’s the single largest undeveloped land in York Village. We’d love the town to own it because we believe it will be in the best interest of the town in the long term,” he said. “Having said that, we are putting together three or four development options for the property.”
Burns said the problem is that there’s a difference in value between open space and developed property — and that’s the issue that the he thinks the townspeople zeroed in on when they voted last year.
“The open space value to the town is phenomenal. But the sticking point has been the asking price,” said Burns. “They’re saying they need to get $5 million. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”