The Dillon Town Council voted to approve the transfer of a parcel of land to the Dillon Urban Renewal Authority on Tuesday, March 25. But later the same night the Dillon Urban Renewal Authority — which is composed of the same members as the town council — voted not to accept the land transfer.

The land in question, referred to as Parcel A, is a small town-owned parcel between the building where Pug Ryan’s Brewery is located and an adjacent structure known as the Payne Building. Developer Jake Porritt has proposed replacing those two buildings with a grocery store, parking garage and restaurant.

On Tuesday, the town clerk swore in three new Dillon Town Council members after a special election earlier this month recalled three members of the previous council. The previous council had voted to move forward with Porritt’s proposal.

While the council voted unanimously earlier Tuesday night to “sell” Parcel A to the Urban Renewal Authority at no cost, voting later in the night as the Urban Renewal Authority, the council members voted 5-2 not to “buy” the parcel. This followed public comment from three Dillon residents who urged the council to seek public input and slow down on Porritt’s development plans.

“Maybe voting no here is the signal that there needs to be public engagement and we’re not willing to move forward without public engagement,” Mayor Carolyn Skowyra said during the Urban Renewal Authority meeting.

Dillon town engineer Dan Burroughs told the council Tuesday that the town has already transferred other parcels of land to the Dillon Urban Renewal Authority and that the resolution before the council would transfer Parcel A to the authority at no cost.

Burroughs explained that whereas a developer wanting to purchase the land from the Dillon Town Council would have to pay the market value for the parcel, if it were to be transferred to the Urban Renewal Authority the town could sell the land to the developer at no cost or below market value. He said that Parcel A as well as other town-owned lots that are already held by the Urban Renewal Authority have been commercially appraised for just under $2 million.

“Appraisal is based on what you’re building,” Burroughs said. “So if you’re building 100 condos on there, the value of the land would be different than the value for this proposal.”

The Dillon Urban Renewal Authority was created in 2009 in order to support development and remediate blight in town. In parts of downtown Dillon, property owners only own the footprint of their building, while the surrounding land is owned by the town, complicating redevelopment.

Last year, the Urban Renewal Authority transferred town-owned land at 103 Main Street to another developer so that that developer could move forward on a project to replace a building that has sat vacant in a state of disrepair with new apartments and a possible restaurant.

But Burroughs explained Tuesday that the step the council and, later, the authority would be taking would not transfer the land to the developer but would only move the land to the Urban Renewal Authority. He said that two additional steps would be required to transfer Parcel A to Porritt. 

First, Porritt would have to submit an application to the Urban Renewal Authority seeking the authority’s assistance — in the form of the authority selling him Parcel A — to “eliminate blight,” Burroughs said. He noted that the two buildings that Porritt project would replace are old and degraded.

Second, the authority would have to sell the developer the land — possibly at no cost or a below market rate cost — with any additional conditions that the authority would like to impose on the sale, Burroughs said.

“This particular step is more of a bookkeeping thing and putting (Parcel A) in the right place,” Burroughs said. “The next two applications would see if you would like to definitively sell the land to this particular developer and… set forth any criteria.”

But after the council’s unanimous vote earlier in the evening, Dillon residents raised concern about advancing the land transfer to the Urban Renewal Authority during public comment at the authority’s meeting.

Dillon resident Shannon White said that the property in question should be sold to the developer at “its full market value in this particular case.” White said, “I’m strongly opposed to the continued practice of transferring public assets for private profit.”

Dillon resident Mary Ellen Gilliland noted the recent recall election and said that residents want to have a public forum to discuss Porritt’s project.

Also noting the recall election, Dillon resident Laura Johnson said that “the public has said very clearly that they want to slow down” and called for input from the public on whether they want to see the land disposed of at no cost or a reduced market price. Johnson said she wants to see Porritt move forward on an 80-condominium project previously known as Uptown 240, which Porritt bought and has renamed the Waterview Residences, before moving forward on other projects.

Council member Oliver Luck during the Urban Renewal Authority meeting described the transfer of Parcel A to the authority as “a purely formal step.” Luck said, “This doesn’t in my estimation endorse anything.” He agreed that community input is important.

Also during the authority’s meeting, council member Rachel Tuyn asked, “I guess my question is why did we vote the way we voted during the council meeting if we’re going to vote this down tonight?”

In the end, Luck and Tuyn were the dissenting votes in the 5-2 vote by the Urban Renewal Authority not to purchase Parcel A.