Parking lot agreement in peril?

(11:30 a.m., Friday, Jan. 15) Please note this correction: The lot in question is the area between UMF’s right-of-way and the Better Living Center store only and does not extend further to the rental store. This morning, the property’s owner Greg Roux said the area leased to the town is 120 feet by 120 feet and could accommodate 25 to 30 parking spaces “at most.” Town Manager Richard Davis said the lot currently contains 18 spaces.

FARMINGTON – A property owner wants to end a 99-year lease agreement with the town of Farmington for use of the Front Street public parking lot because he says terms of the agreement have not been met and it’s underutilized to boot.

Greg Roux, owner of the former Farmington Construction, Inc., asked selectmen to terminate the Front Street parking lot lease his company entered into 17 years ago. In the agreement, which was amended to add the University of Maine at Farmington in 2000 because it has a 20-foot right-of-way easement across the lot to Prescott Field, the town pays Roux $1 per year and agrees to provide paving and striping maintenance and clean up, including snow, sand and trash removal. The lot’s area is between UMF’s right-of-way to its soccer fields and ends at the Better Living Center building, currently providing 18 parking spaces, but could accommodate between 25 and 30 cars, Roux said.

In addition, as part of the agreement, Roux “shall be assessed no real estate property taxes for the premises during the term of the lease.”

Roux wants out of the lease because he recently discovered a bookkeeper, who was taking care of his billing, was paying the tax bills on the lot over the years. He also said the town’s maintenance on the lot isn’t what it should be. But more than that, Roux said, “there is an average of eight to 12 cars parked there. Is this the best use of the property to have 10 cars parked there?” he asked selectmen. He added if he decided to construct a building on the site, it would provide additional taxable property for the town.

When the deal was struck, the downtown business association backed the lease agreement because the idea of providing an overflow parking area would be economically beneficial to local businesses and residents. However, things didn’t quite work out that way, according to Roux.

“The intent was to benefit downtown,” he said. “People would park there and walk up to shop downtown, but it’s not happening.” As it stands now, the lot is one of the very few places to park 24 hours all year round. The Sandy River Farmers’ Market has set up, during the growing season, in the lot for years, although organizers say they may be moving year round to the Grange Hall in West Farmington.

The agreement is a good deal for the town because it gets 18 parking spaces just off Main Street for $1 a year in a downtown where the lack of parking has been a chronic problem.

Selectman Dennis Pike took issue with the fact that Roux has been paying taxes when he shouldn’t have been, as part of the lease agreement.

“I was told tax would be exempt on that property,” Pike said, sounding a bit frustrated. “Did the town drop the ball?” He asked that the matter be investigated.

Town Manager Richard Davis, who was not at the helm when either of the lease agreements were signed, said he “doubted the legality of being exempt from paying taxes by virtue of a lease.”

“In fairness we need to look into this,” Pike said. “It’s critical we pursue it.”

Davis said the question at hand is not whether Roux shouldn’t have been paying taxes on the property but, “does the town have an interest in terminating this lease.”

“I want to be released from this lease,” Roux said. “I am questioning the legality of the lease.”

“If the town was charging taxes, we owe an abatement,” Pike said firmly. Davis retorted that any tax refund could only go back three years.

Selectmen decided to take the matter up again at their Feb. 23 meeting and, in the meantime, the Downtown Business Association will be consulted.