Price dispute hangs over county-owned land

After a year of research and inquiry, Hazleton resident Frank V. DeAndrea Jr. submitted a $20,000 purchase offer in September 2020 for a steep mountainside parcel of Luzerne County-owned land in Hollenback Township.

At the county’s request, DeAndrea paid for a legal ad announcing the proposed purchase and a certified appraisal, which concluded the 48.33-acre is worth $17,000.

But based on requested input from county Assessment Director Kristin Montgomery last week, council’s Real Estate Committee voted to recommend council approve a counter offer of $45,000.

Further complicating the matter, the property is assessed at $77,300 for real estate tax purposes, although county officials have acknowledged some assessments of county-owned properties are too high and were never contested through the appeal process because they were tax-exempt under county ownership.

The situation illustrates the complexities and differing opinions surfacing as the county tackles the daunting task of unloading property that has ended up in county ownership over decades.

DeAndrea said he had first inquired about buying the property at the end of 2019, when he researched records and discovered it was county-owned. He owns the adjoining 300 acres and uses the site for hunting and outdoor recreation — which he would also do with the parcel in question.

The county piece is landlocked and on a sloped section of Nescopeck Mountain, which makes it unattractive to anyone else, he said.

A retired state police trooper and past Hazleton police chief, DeAndrea said $20,000 is a very fair offer because it exceeds his appraisal.

But Montgomery presented a different view to the Real Estate Committee, saying it is a “lot of land” and that “being landlocked is not legal in Pennsylvania anymore.”

“If you to take it to court, the court will give you the easiest access right of way, and the property owners have to give you the right to go through their property to get to your property,” Montgomery said. “But it is a process and costs money to go to court, so it does take away from it a little bit that the right-of-way is not there.”

She also pointed to the county assessment, saying it equates to about $73,900 with post-reassessment sales analysis and other factors weighed in. She mentioned someone has come forward with a possible interest in timbering the land.

The site also could be a “nice chunk of land” to build a house and “get away from it all” as more are interested in moving to rural areas, she said.

“I think they’re really fishing with a value of $20 grand,” Montgomery told the committee. “I think that they’re low-balling myself.”

Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott, who chairs the real estate committee, said Montgomery suggested a counter offer of $40,000 to $50,000.

Montgomery said it is not her decision to make, but she would not personally accept $20,000.

The committee, which includes Council members Chris Perry and Matthew Vough, then voted to recommend the full council vote on a $45,000 counter offer at a future council meeting.

In a follow-up interview, DeAndrea said he would have attended the committee meeting to present counter arguments but had no idea a meeting had been scheduled with his proposed purchase among the topics.

He responded by first emphasizing he respects and supports the county’s efforts to maximize purchase prices but said he does not believe they are aware of all facts about this property. He said he remains optimistic county council members will come to realize his offer is worth accepting after he appears before them.

DeAndrea did take issue with an assertion he was trying to low-ball the offer. He said he asked county officials if they have a list of approved appraisers from which he could choose for the appraisal they wanted him to obtain, and he was informed there is not a list and that he should select on his own. He chose Cheryl I. Roman because she is a Pennsylvania-certified residential appraiser and particularly familiar with real estate in the region that includes Hollenback Township.

“I paid for an appraiser, and now they’re not happy with the appraisal?” DeAndrea said.

DeAndrea said a court-ordered easement to the landlocked property is unlikely to be a direct route to this parcel, which would make an access road longer and more expensive to build. He estimated it would cost thousands of dollars for a court challenge and to bulldoze a path for access, not including paving. He also questioned the likelihood a court would order an easement through someone else’s land that is wide enough to bring in utilities for development or trucks for a timbering operation.

During the committee meeting, Montgomery said it’s also possible land access could be available through an attached parcel that has no identified owner at this time. This other parcel may be county-owned by default or somehow owned by nobody, but further research would be required, she said.

DeAndrea said a survey indicates that property is part of a parcel belonging to another neighbor, which means it has no tie to county ownership. And even if it was available, that adjacent strip is steeper than the one he wants to buy and contains rock ledges that make it inaccessible to all-terrain vehicles, let alone cars and trucks, he said.

Roman’s appraisal said an easement in this case would need to be provided through several property owners’ parcels. There is no power “anywhere near” the parcel DeAndrea wants to buy, and it would be “extremely difficult and cost prohibitive to dig a well for water and septic for sewage,” the appraisal said.

“Due to the steep slope of subject property and the inability and cost of getting water and sewer to the site, it is not conducive for residential housing,” it said. “Subject use is best for hunting and recreational use, which is the use by the upper surrounding landowners.”

DeAndrea said he has complied with all county requests and does not believe anyone would be willing to pay more than $20,000 due to the challenges involved with the parcel.

Informed of DeAndrea’s response, McDermott said she welcomes and encourages his additional input to help council reach a decision.

While DeAndrea said he came forward on his own to alert the county he was interested in the Hollenback Township parcel, council’s Real Estate Committee has been systematically working to figure out how to unload unused county property.

McDermott said 222 parcels have been deemed marketable, but only 114 have deeds.

Of those, 27 are assessed at less than $10,000, and these are the ones that will be targeted first.

McDermott said she met with the county Mapping/GIS department to review each of these parcels and compile a list of all adjacent property owners and their addresses. She has started drafting a letter to be approved by the committee that will be sent to neighbors informing them the county-owned parcels are available and how to submit an offer.