Farmington Officials Set June 24 Hearing for Courthouse Property

Sometimes, it pays to wait. 

Since Farmington city council members on May 6 reviewed – and rejected – four offers for the former 47th District Court property on 10 Mile Road, some of them have improved and new offers have been received. The increased activity led city officials on Monday to set a June 24 public hearing to consider proposals. 

The 14,000-square-foot building and three-plus acres of property between Power and Farmington Roads has been vacant for about 10 years. 

During a Monday study session, city manager Vince Pastue and economic and community development director Kevin Christiansen reviewed submissions that had been received as recently as 5 p.m. that day. Pastue recommended a $325,000 offer from a church that would re-develop the courthouse and leave the city with two acres of property to market for housing development. 

But council member Greg Cowley and Mayor Tom Buck favored a proposal that would result in single family homes across the entire property, even though single family developers have offered less for it. 

"I am willing to give a little on the front end to get long-term value," Cowley said. "Not having housing stock in this market is killing us." 

"More families within walking distance of downtown Farmington provides us with the greatest ROI (return on investment)," Buck added.

Council member JoAnne McShane said she didn't want the city to be "short-sighted" and miss an opportunity down the road, should the school district decide to sell its adjacent property. But Buck said that process could move slowly and putting off the hearing 60 or 90 days would postpone development for another year. 

Pastue noted that officials can continue to review all proposals received at the hearing. 

"This doesn't obligate you to accept any offer," he said. "What you guys did on May 6 rang the bell. We want to give everybody one more bite at the apple." 

The public hearing will be held during the council's June 24 meeting. In addition to published notices, officials will mail adjacent property owners information about the hearing. 

Correction: The date of the city council meeting and public hearing were incorrectly reported in the original version of this article. It is June 24.