One bidder on two county surplus parcels withdraws bid

Spotsylvania County soon will face the most-serious budget challenges in recent history. Home values and the assessments by all accounts should drop by double digits, which means less tax revenue for the county–money that goes to education, public safety and transportation.

Every penny apparently helps. In August, supervisors asked staff to sell two surplus properties in the Governors Green subdivision by the mall. The minimum bid was $85,500 for each parcel. The single bidder is identified as "Mr. Arnett."

Mr. Arnett made the second bid on the other piece of property as a back up if he did not win the first property, which was his top choice. He won the first bid, and he then asked that the second bid be withdrawn. County staff state in a memo that Mr. Arnett made the second bid after staff confirmed that a person cannot roll over a bid to the second property.

Mr. Arnett later withdrew his first bid, saying he would not be able to secure all the necessary financing.

Now, county staff may ask for permission to make changes with the solicitation process to prevent similar situations.

Post tags: surplus property

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/spotsygovt/2009/10/14/one-bidder-on-two-county-surplus-parcels-withdraws-bid/

tpkeller

Change the rules to encourage even fewer bids! New bidding rules won’t make more financing magically available… what are you going to do, sue a bidder into bankruptcy over $85K?
gramps

a little confused. Did Mr. Arnett withdraw because he could not get financing for both parcels or just the first parcel? I obviously do not understand the process because I always thought that bidders at auctions had to have certain amounts of up front money which was unrefundable if the bidder won and could not perform??
dantelvock

Not an auction. It was a bidding process.
gramps

Huh, does that mean there is no “entry fee” (so to speak) that is non-refundable in case the winning bidder can not complete the transaction? If that is true, any Mr. or Ms. “X” can slip a bid into the hat and then walk off. Seems like there ought to be a better way to avoid going through the motions and coming up empty.
MAVRICKinc

If Wanda Parrish, Director of Spotsylvania County Planning (phone 540-507-7425) doesn’t have the answers to your questions, I’m certain she has planning staff members who do.

Becky Golden, P.E., Director of Capital Projects Management (PH:540-507-7009) is a resource Dan Telvock/ FLS has used in the past to answer these kind of questions, OR try:

Supv. Gary Skinner, Chairman of the Capital Construction Committee (540-507-7009) who has more answers than you can shake a stick at.

Mary Lee Carter, Chairman of the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission is another excellent resourse to work off of. Mallard Landing should be part of your conversation and background to the Massaponax Corridor, reduced fees and proffers, the VRE agenda and what impact Urban Deveopment Areas will serve to increase your quality of life in Spotsylvania County.

If the answers given are a bit short, you can always invite youself to sit down with planning department staff and have them walk you through the process of bidding projects in the County and who the major players are.

I recall stopping by Compliance and had them pull Summit Crossing and the New Post project (both identified by the Planning Commission as viable Urban Development Areas, and the Planning Department’s presentation to the BOS just a couple months back.

You’ll find all this on the Spotsylvania County Website, except for copies of the voluminous paper documentation. The going rate is 3 cents a page. My last visit cost me somewhere in the area of $35, and what information was supplied to me, made it a lot easier to better understand how the wheels turn in Spotsylvania County planning circles, who the real stakeholders are and which meetings you can and cannot attend. Anything sinister about that observation? How could that remotely be possible? I’ve already made my call and it was made abuntantly clear that these are the “RULES”, like it or lump it.

Simply said, don’t call me, call THEM. THEY have your answers. All you have to do is ask questions, let their response be your guide.

If anything I’ve said here appears to be of a conspiritorial nature, all you have to do is make the call. The people listed here are not ficticious and the phone numbers listed really do exist.

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One bidder on two county surplus parcels withdraws bid