I am writing in regard to the city of Snohomish’s sale of 360 square feet of park land to Mr. Hans Dunshee for $10,000. The immediate neighbors of the subject property felt there should have been a more publicized auction.
I offer this plan:
1. The city of Snohomish should exercise its eminent domain power and condemn Mr. Dunshee’s 7,200-square-foot vacant lot.
2. Pay Mr. Dunshee the $90,000 plus $10,000 that he paid for the lot.
3. Then surplus the 7,200-square-foot buildable lot and hold a public auction by James G. Murphy Auctioneers. Publicize it well and set a minimum price of $100,000. Anyone could bid, including Larry Countryman, Mike Hope, the Blackman Lake neighbors, or Mr. Dunshee himself.
The caveat to the neighbors would be that someone who wants to build a two-story mega-mansion instead of Mr. Dunshee’s small rambler could be the winning bidder.
Any winning bid over $100,000, of course, would be a windfall to the city taxpayers.
MORGAN DAVIS
Snohomish
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