By far the best journalism being committed in Delaware today is being done by WDEL’s Amy Cherry. She has effectively chronicled the stink of corruption permeating the proposed farmland deal between the Gordon Administration and a couple of well-connected farmers. Here are the links. Go ahead and read/listen to them. I’ll wait.
http://wdel.com/story/76458-farmers-cry-foul-over-new-castle-county-farmland-deal
Here’s just some of what I’ve learned from this award-worthy series:
*The Gordon Administration has been in constant contact with at least one of the two farmers who would benefit from this questionable deal:
“WDEL revealed 120 e-mails between farm owner Gary Warren and New Castle County then-Chief of Staff James McDonald in connection with the proposed deal, showing Warren had insider access to a process which, when conducted by the state, is completely independent of farm owners.”
*One of the owners, Gary Warren, successfully submitted the name of his preferred appraiser to conduct the appraisal on his farm. This, to put it mildly, is not the way it’s supposed to work:
“The landowner in the state program has no involvement whatsoever with the appraiser in terms of selecting or designating the appraiser,” said Michael Parkowski, the attorney for the state’s farmland preservation program…
“This is millions of dollars of public funds that are at stake here. We need to have a clear process that treats everyone the same, and it documents an incredible amount of insider access,” said former DNREC official and president of the Delaware Audubon Society Dave Carter after viewing the e-mails obtained by WDEL. “That was an unprecedented amount of correspondences, dozens and dozens of them between a private land owner who stands to profit considerably and the government staff making decisions on them.”
*Although this is being presented as a farmland preservation deal, it is not a farmland preservation deal:
“A proposed deal by New Castle County government that would turn two politically-connected farmers into millionaires is tied to a legal settlement, but critics say it’s being couched as a farmland preservation deal as a way to get taxpayers and county council members on-board.
“This is not the county’s new farmland preservation program (there isn’t a county farmland preservation program). This is looking at what can we do in light of these settlement agreements. How can we benefit the Port Penn corridor and yet relieve ourselves under the obligations of the settlement agreements?” she said. “We aren’t looking to pay fair market value for every acre out there of farm.”
But despite there being 330 farms in New Castle County, that’s exactly what the county is seeking to do for two well-known farmers. They’re seeking to buy development rights to former state Farm Bureau president Gary Warren and former Delaware Public Service Commissioner Jaymes Lester’s farms along Port Penn Road for upwards of $6 million, using taxpayer money.
*State Senators Bruce Ennis and Bethany Hall Long got $300,000 in the State Bond Bill for this sweetheart deal:
This single deal would cost more than $3 million and is part of a larger deal to also conserve former public service commissioner Jaymes Lester’s farm at a similar price. The deal includes $3 million in county money, a federal match, and $300,000 from the state’s bond bill that was secured after the Lester and Warren farms were labeled a “priority” in a meeting dated October 24, 2013. County Executive Gordon, Senator Bruce Ennis, and Senator Bethany Hall-Long were among those present.
*The so-called appraisals are a joke:
“You went to Brandywine Hundred and compared it to an ST (suburban transition) property…very few farms were used in this appraisal that were in the proximity of these farms (Warren and Lester’s farms). They all went way out of the area to look at what is developed already in all of those areas. To go up to Brandywine Hundred, go across the state line, I don’t understand how that’s a comp,” questioned Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick.
“I found it completely ridiculous…that a farm…on the Route 202 corridor, zoned ST…now, understand the Route 202 corridor is high-growth, it’s got Delaware County and New Castle County butted right here, it’s extremely high amounts of traffic, high demand, it’s just a very different environment than southern New Castle County, so I think that threw the whole thing, the whole property appraisal out of whack,” said Councilman John Cartier.
Kilpatrick also questioned the idea of including comparables that already have sewer and utilities in place–something Lester and Warren’s farms don’t have.
*No other farmer/landowners have ever been offered anything anywhere near as lucrative:
“It’s absolutely criminal,” said Port Penn farm owner Tony Domino.
He nearly fell out of his chair when WDEL informed him that the Valbridge appraisal–obtained and made public by WDEL–compares neighboring Gary Warren’s farm to property on Concord Pike and a commercial property owned by Dogfish Head in Milton.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. “That’s unbelievable. You’re comparing an apple to a grape.”
Just read the third installment of the series in its entirety to see how out of whack these appraisals are.
To me, this is a quintessential Delaware Way story brilliantly exposed by Amy Cherry. This is a sweetheart deal, using taxpayer money, that would benefit two well-connected farmers and only two well-connected farmers. This is a waste of taxpayer money designed to benefit two undeserving insiders, and it is being orchestrated by County Executive Tom Gordon. It should not be allowed to happen.
Amy Cherry has laid out the entire scheme in this great series. Who will step forward to stop it? And/or to stop Gordon?