No Ball and Dodd deal

MEDICAL LAKE — City Council members voted unanimously at their Feb. 16 meeting to turn down an offer by national retailer Dollar General to purchase the former Ball and Dodd Funeral Home property at the southwest corner of the West Brooks Road, North Lefevre Street and East State Route 902 intersection.

Immediately after doing this, the council took a step to make sure it wouldn’t come up for sale again — at least in the foreseeable future — by removing the 43,475-square-foot parcel from the city’s surplus property roll.

Echoing statements from other council members, Councilwoman Heather Starr said the property is used for a variety of purposes by the community right now. She added she was all for bringing new businesses into the city, and said conversations with existing businessowners had revealed other locations that could be improved and used for that purpose, including downtown.

But right now, the former Ball and Dodd property serves as a location for fireworks stands, hosted the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall in 2019 and currently has been the drop off place for residents getting rid of yard debris from the Jan. 20 windstorm.

“We’ve been providing for the city so much great things in that spot,” Starr said. “I think at this time, we’re not ready to get rid of it, and what we use to give back to the community.”

City Administrator Doug Ross told the council at the Jan. 5 meeting that Dollar General Stores had approached the city with an offer to purchase the land for $200,000. The property, which according to information from Spokane County’s SCOUT parcel system, was purchased by the city in June 2002 for $175,000, and has an assessed value by the county Assessor’s Office of $130,430.

Assessed value is often less than appraised value, and the city has hired Valbridge Property Advisors for $1,800 to provide an appraisal. The appraisal was to have been ready for the Feb. 16 meeting, but has been delayed a week.

“I don’t think it’s the worst thing to have (appraisal) because, quite honestly, and if you guys will let me give my 2 cents, I hope we don’t sell it,” Ross told the council. “I think as a city it’s great to have the property for city facility expansion. That’s the original intent when it was purchased.”

Ross added that one of the reasons Spokane County Fire District 3 chose to explore joining with Medical Lake to provide fire/medical services was the prospect of using the Ball and Dodd land for a new station – and idea shelved when they decided to remodel the existing location at City Hall. Other potential uses for the property by the city could be a site for a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office station, a new City Hall or a maintenance shop.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Rosenbeck asked if the land wasn’t removed from surplus if another entity could purchase it without revealing their intentions — even if that was to then sell the land to Dollar General. Ross said that was a possibility, but that possibility also extends to private property as well.

“Somebody could go buy a commercial lot in the city and you can’t stop them from building, the law doesn’t give you that authority,” he added. “This idea that we say yes or no to business, it’s ridiculous. It doesn’t happen. You only get this opportunity now because you own the property. You have the carrot they want.”

Councilman Art Kulibert pointed out the Wilcox Family still owns several parcels at the edge of the city limits along State Route 902 — a location he felt was better for a second grocery store. The city itself also owns six other parcels, three on the south side of Lake Street near Silver Lake, and three north of Ladd Street between North Sherman and North Silver Lake avenues.

Council’s vote to remove the Ball and Dodd property from the city’s surplus list was more of an advisory move. City attorney Kendal Froese said there were several past resolutions dealing with the land, and would bring forward a formal resolution removing it from surplus at the council’s next meeting in March.

Councilman AJ Burton was absent from the meeting due to an illness.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].