Comptroller Peter Franchot said Tuesday he will again attempt to block the state?s purchase of 73 acres of shoreline property on Kent Island at the Board of Public Works meeting today.
“I think it?s an unfortunate choice for Program Open Space,” he said.
Last month Franchot was able to delay the $7.2 million purchase sought by the Department of Natural Resources. It was not known Tuesday how the other two members of the board, Gov. Martin O?Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, will vote on the property.
“We?re still reviewing the project,” O?Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said. Kopp was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
The purchase involves land on Love Point near the northern tip of Kent Island at the mouth of the Chester River. The deep-water terminus of a historic Chesapeake Bay ferry and a hotel, the site is used by Langenfelder Marine to bring in stone aggregate and construction material by barge. The parcel is owned by Atchafalaya Holdings, created by Langenfelder. Langenfelder would lease back 12 acres for five years to continue its hauling operations for marine construction.
“It might be a project that the Port of Baltimore would consider,” Franchot said. The Natural Resources Department wants to restore the site to its natural look, and use it for parkland and nature and water trails.
Langenfelder?s attorney Robert Douglas said, “We think it is a beautiful property that helps to restore the Bay. He said it?s the same shoreline that Capt. John Smith saw when he becamethe first Englishman to explore the area.
Unlike a controversial purchase of another Queen Anne?s County property approved by the Board of Public Works in June despite a price higher than it was appraised, the Langenfelder property is being sold for $78,000 less than the highest appraisal.
