BERLIN – The town will soon begin seeking proposals from entities interested in Heron Park.
Elected officials this week drafted a request for proposals (RFP) for the disposition and development of parcels 410 and 57 at Heron Park. Officials made sure the language included will allow interested parties to pursue one or both of the parcels.
“It provides that flexibility,” Mayor Zack Tyndall said.
For months, officials have been discussing the potential sale of parcels 410 and 57, the portions of Heron Park closest to Old Ocean City Boulevard. On Tuesday, Tyndall and the council went through a 28-page draft RFP based on similar requests issued by other municipalities in the region. Tyndall launched the discussion by sharing the news that the possibility of partnering with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the project, something that was discussed last month, was not a feasible option. He said he met with DNR Oct. 4.
“It was a very good meeting but the program was determined not to be a fit for that parcel at this time,” he said.
Tyndall said the town hadn’t had any relevant RFPs on file to serve as models for the Heron Park documents.
“So what I did was I reached out to some of the other municipalities,” he said. “I do want to publicly thank the City of Salisbury and Mayor Jake Day who sent over voluminous amount of RFPs for me to look through.”
He said he’d drafted what he felt was appropriate but proceeded to seek council input regarding various word choices throughout the document.
Planning Director Dave Engelhart reminded officials that it was likely that the zoning on the parcels would have to be changed moving forward, as Heron Park in its entirety is zoned residential.
“We zoned this R-1 because that’s where parks are allowed,” Engelhart said.
Tyndall suggested officials ask members of the Berlin Planning Commission to make up part of the committee that will eventually review the submitted proposals.
Council members said they wanted to make sure the RFP would allow entities to submit proposals for parcel 410, parcel 57 or both. Tyndall confirmed that it would.
Revisions and adjustments discussed Tuesday will be worked into the draft in the coming days so that it can be reviewed again by the council at the meeting scheduled for Oct. 25.
