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The Taylor Town Council and residents in the community came together last week during a council work session to discuss what has become a source of contention over the town’s recent purchase of property known as the Taylor Business Park (formerly the Roy Palmer Business Park) located on Pinedale Road.
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“The opposition of our actions is from a long standing battle between two individuals who for years have been battling in court over who was at fault over 11 years ago,” began Mayor David Smith, referring to a lawsuit between Jason Hatch of Hatch Development LLC and Gary Solomon, who Hatch subcontracted with on the development of the property.
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Smith noted that one of the incorrect statements made in a November call to the public was that the town had already purchased the business park in 2010 based on the $200,000 purchase of six acres of property from TBS Waste owned by LeWayne Hunt to settle a lawsuit on a zoning issue but that acreage was on the south side of Pinedale Road. Hunt later used that money to purchase land in the business park on the north side of the road. The owners of the park were Jason Hatch and Ferrel Holyoak.
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Smith went on to say, “Over the past years we have been working with the previous owners of the park to try to resolve the flood plain issues within the development and encourage the owners to submit the water and sewer infrastructure to be approved by Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). It became apparent late last summer, that both individuals who owned the park had no further interest in making any improvements or correcting previous errors.
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“In the meantime we have three valuable businesses in the park that suffer each day from a lack of town services such as running water, sewer services and good roads,” Smith concluded. “By purchasing this property, we will dedicate the resources within our disposal to provide these services to the businesses, residents and general public that travel the Airport Loop Road. In due time we will install flood control improvements that will result in removing several homes and properties from the Pinedale Wash Flood Plain and that is basically why we purchased this property.”
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Taylor resident Velma Perkins questioned whether the council had a policy for establishing value for land that is bought or sold by the town through an expert appraisal method.
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Town Manager Gus Lundberg answered, “We don’t have a written policy but we do abide by state law.”
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Perkins questioned how the town had determined the price for the business park, to which Lundberg responded, “Four years ago we had the property adjacent to the north of the park valued at $4,100 per acre. This purchase of the park is over $5,000 per acre because there are significant water and sewer line improvements in the ground.”
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Lundberg further noted, “In 2018, the town purchased three acres of property on the west side of the park for $4,000 an acre based on a previous appraisal.”
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Councilman Jason Brubaker shared, “The value of this land to us is not just a value of one acre to sell and buy. The value to it is also about the three great businesses in the park that employ a lot of people and pay taxes but they don’t have the services. The value is to support those three businesses in addition to the flood plain benefit this could have for us.”
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Perkins ended by saying, “If you don’t have a policy, I would expect that you would establish such a policy and that you would guarantee the citizens of this community that for everything that is purchased we know you are getting the best price or that you are selling or buying for the best price so the citizens are not shortchanged.”
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Another Taylor resident, Don Godfrey, asked if the business park would help in mitigating the flood plain in the nearby area that he lives in.
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Smith answered that the town has a grant for the Pinedale Wash, but that part of the engineering of the grant requires catch basins in the park and there was difficulty in getting the previous owners to give the acreage needed due to the financial loss they would incur.
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“I can understand their problems with having to give up some acreage to make these catch basins. They were losing money and I can understand that was their business. But in order to make this grant work, those basins need to be there. The grant has nothing to do with this business park working. It has to do with houses downstream being in the flood zone. That is the purpose of the grant,” said Smith.
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Godfrey noted, “If it would benefit me as a taxpayer and others then I am all for it.”
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Richard Franco, a land owner in Taylor, also addressed the council regarding the appraisal process noting that in August Farrel Holyoak, who owned 60 percent of the park, sold his portion to Jason Hatch of Hatch Development LLC for $275,000, which came to a little more than $3,000 an acre.
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“How did the value go from $3,000 an acre in August to $5,000 an acre three months later? And why wasn’t this sale part of the valuation process?” asked Franco. “You just said that there isn’t running water in the park. Is that Taylor’s problem or the developer/owners problem? How is Mr. Hatch’s inability to run his business the town’s problem?”
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Franco also questioned the $200,000 the town paid for the six acres, noting that was a cost of $33,000 per acre, with the money going to IMH, a financial corporation that was the hard money lender of the park at the time.
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Vice Mayor Carl Cosper said, “There is a lot more to the story but it is going to embarrass a lot of people and the mayor said no to going back to the past.”
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Smith interjected, “The deal between Holyoak and Hatch was between them, not us. We didn’t know anything about it. We met with Holyoak and the last thing we told him was ‘come back to us with a price’. The next thing we knew he didn’t own the property anymore. End of story.”
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Franco then asked how much the council anticipated it would cost to begin delivering these services to the businesses.
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Lundberg said, “I have $10,000 budgeted to have the existing infrastructure approved by ADEQ.”
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“Assuming it doesn’t pass and it needs to be redone; isn’t that something you should know before you buy the property?” asked Franco, further noting that it is typical for a list of conditions to be included in the purchase of the property.
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Cosper said, “When ADEQ comes to inspect it, if there is a problem, we will have to fix it.”
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When Solomon requested a moment to speak as he began handing out the original 2006 contract, Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting, stating that the session would not entertain past history on the park. At that point, Solomon requested five minutes to give a demonstration of sewer pipefittings to the council.
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Brubaker addressed the council, saying, “I am learning, I appreciate it. I don’t mind learning a little bit more. But I appreciate the control you have on the meeting Mayor, and I wish people would focus on what is now and our future forward instead of trying to blame and hold all these things from the past.”
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As Solomon began his presentation his wife, Bobbie Solomon, took the microphone demanding that the council answer her question of whom they represented.
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Cosper said, “We represent everyone, but not everyone has the same thought. We have to make decisions we don’t like some times. Gary knows this business more than anybody and he is very good at it. He knows what needed to be done. And Jason, I don’t think he did anything wrong.”
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Councilman Kyle Peck reminded everyone, “We are not here to talk about or point fingers at Hatch or Solomon.”
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At that point Solomon was allowed to continue his demonstration on how a mechanical joint goes together, noting that transitional gaskets were not used in the line.
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“The business park is full of these mechanical joints,” said Solomon. “But they forgot to use the transitional gaskets. I was asked to help over there. When we found out what happened, we got the hell out of there. The water line was completely uncovered and full of tumbleweeds. How do you get tumbleweeds out? You burn them, that is not very good for all that eight inch pipe that is laying there.”
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Godfrey then spoke again, “It’s pretty sad that this has come to what it is. This isn’t about developing the land or the price. This is about all the things that have been done wrong. It’s too bad that it came to this; this has nothing to do with the town purchasing the property. This has all been settled in a court of law.”
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As another discussion erupted Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting and the council unanimously agreed.
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In a conversation following the meeting, Hatch shared that the main sewer line, which is 4,200 feet long, was inspected, tested and documented throughout the development of the line by an independent engineering firm in 2006 and 2007. “The line was put in per engineered plans approved by the Town of Taylor. During and after the construction, the installed lines passed all the inspections and continues to pass new inspections today,” said Hatch.
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“Our intent was to bring in ADEQ for final approval at the completion of all the sewer line phases in 2007 but because the town’s sewer system was overcapacity, we had to wait until the town built a new sewer treatment plant for the overall sewer capacity within the Town of Taylor.”
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Then in July of 2007, an open manhole cover allowed floodwaters into the system, filling the Hunt house located on the south side of Pinedale Road with sewer, adding to the already existing zoning issues between the town and Hunt over the waste disposal property, launching the whole project into a series of lawsuits that halted the overall progress.
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While Solomon claims that he stopped working on the project due to issues with the gaskets, Hatch claims that if Solomon had finished the work the trench would not have filled with water and the manhole would have been covered. He also disputed Solomon’s claims regarding weeds in the trench. “Never at any time were weeds burned in any trench. I have no idea what Gary was alluding to during the meeting.” said Hatch.
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Hatch said in 2010 he worked with the town to help settle the flooding issue with the Hunts. “The check for $262,000 was for more than just the flood suit,” said Hatch. “It also covered $200,000 to end the zoning dispute the Hunts had launched against the town in an attempt to get their six acres zoned for their waste disposal business. The $200,000 was the town’s payment for the six acres of land the Hunts owned on the south side of Pinedale Road. The town currently owns this specific acreage today.”
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Hatch agreed to sell TBS Waste six acres of land within the park for the $200,000. Hatch also included an additional acre valued at $60,000 as his part of the settlement for the flooding lawsuit.
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As part of the conditions of the settlement, the Hunts agreed to release the town and Hatch from the lawsuit. Solomon was not named in the release as he refused to participate in the settlement.
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“I brought a lawsuit against Solomon in 2011, for recovery of damages against flooding litigation,” said Hatch. “I tried multiple times to settle with Gary prior to the lawsuit, but he refused. After winning the lawsuit, I honestly thought we could settle everything, but it hasn’t stopped. Gary refuses to settle after many attempts on my part to do so. He continues to avoid his responsibilities. I would prefer to resolve this and move on. This dispute has gone on far too long.”
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