Source: The Montana Standard
Anaconda, Mont. - Anaconda commissioners wrapping up the year during a meeting Tuesday night have various items to consider, including a plan to clear the title to the Old Works Golf Course hotel parcel.
Other top agenda items include discussions on bids for a new police vehicle, a Board of Crime Control grant to stem underage drinking, Frank St. Pierre's super slide project and hiring details for a school resource officer and new deputy county attorney.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the courthouse courtroom.
During the business session, commissioners will vote on the proposed settlement agreement between the county and Sullway Construction of Butte that would allow hotel development at the Old Works Golf Course to move forward. In that plan, the 2.3-acre hotel parcel, plus improvements, would be put out for bid with a minimum price of $150,000, according to County Attorney Mike Grayson.
In the written agreement, the property would be advertised for at least one month, with the criteria that the land be used for a hotel, and that any potential developer have the financial backing to see the project through to completion.
The golf course authority board would review any bids, and the commissioners would have the final say about which bid, if any, is accepted.
In the compromise, the net proceeds of the sale would go to Sullway Construction, plus $ 10,000 from the county, in return for the release of $ 314,000 in liens filed by Sullway against the property.
Grayson said it's more efficient for the county to resolve the debt with the construction company than with the developers, Dan and Craig Floyd of Renascent Montana LLC.
"This agreement is preferable because it allows the hotel development to move forward immediately," Grayson said Monday. "Suing Renascent, waiting for a court date, and then trying to collect on any judgments would likely take years to complete." If no bid is accepted, the parties would be required to renegotiate the agreement or go on with litigation, Grayson added.
In the settlement agreement, Sullway reserves the right to file any legal actions, but may not sue Anaconda-Deer Lodge County unless no bid is accepted.
Construction on the proposed $6 million Lodge at Old Works began in August 2002. Ownership of the hotel parcel reverted to the county in January 2004 after the Floyds breached a development agreement by not having the first phase of the hotel completed within 18 months of the starting date. The Floyds, who also failed to post a performance bond, turned the property back to the county in a reversionary clause action, but with some $314,000 in construction liens still attached, according to the settlement agreement.
Carl Nyman, director of Anaconda Project Facilitators, the development group that worked with the Floyds to secure construction of the proposed luxury resort hotel, says that organization believes the hotel construction contract dispute was evenly weighted between two key parties, Renascent and Sullway.
"Both failed to perform, and both should be held accountable," Nyman said. "We saw flaws on both sides, and unfortunately that's why this project is where it is today." With bidding in the offing, Nyman says developers who have shown interest will pay more serious attention to the opportunity at Old Works.
"We're very pleased to see the county attorney has been working to breathe new life into this project," Nyman said.
"While there may have been other alternatives, we support the county attorney's option because it may be the quickest resolution without the need for unnecessary litigation."
