BERLIN – A developer outlined his plans for Heron Park while residents shared their concerns with the possible sale of the property at a work session in Berlin.
The Berlin Town Council on Monday hosted a work session regarding Heron Park and a proposal from developer Palmer Gillis to buy a portion of the property. Despite concerns from residents, Gillis told the crowd he was eager to work with the town.
“We are willing to listen,” he said. “Every comment that we’ve heard is exactly what we want to implement in this project.”
The town purchased Heron Park for $2.5 million in 2016. Last year, heeding calls to consider selling the property to reduce the annual debt service, the town entered into negotiations with Gillis’s Coastal Ventures Properties LLC — one of two entities that submitted a proposal for a portion of the property. The initial proposal from Gillis offered the town $1.5 million for three parcels — parcel 410, 57 and 191 — and would involve partial demolition of the existing structures to create a commercial project on the site. The trails and pond on the north end of the property would be unaffected.
“We got here because I’m a news junkie and I started reading a lot of information in the local newspapers,” Gillis said this week.
He told the council he was familiar with the property because he’d done construction work there decades ago. Knowing the town was considering selling the property, he said he approached the mayor and other government officials.
“This is the normal process,” he said. “If you have an idea for a town you typically want to go to the regulatory agencies to see if it’s a hell yes a hell no or a maybe. That’s kind of where we are in the development process.”
While he asked if he could submit a proposal for the property, Mayor Zack Tyndall advised him the town had to issue a request for proposals. When that was issued, two proposals were received, and officials agreed to move forward with the one from Gillis. Since then, Gillis has met with a subcommittee of town officials to develop a contract for his purchase of the property.
“We are exactly where we’re supposed to be in this process,” he said. “Nobody’s done anything wrong as far as secret meetings, as far as conspiracies and things like that. I want to quell that idea.”
While he’s submitted a plan showing a mix of commercial uses for the site, one of the largest would be a garden center.
“The Berlin Garden Center will offer a refreshing alternative to national chains,” Sandy Gillis said. “We will offer a personalized experience with locally grown, unique items you won’t find elsewhere.”
She said she also envisioned a small entertainment venue at the site.
“To avoid any misconceptions, let’s not use the term amphitheater,” she said. “It creates thoughts of larger venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion or the Freeman Stage. Our vision revolves around a smaller performing arts stage.”
She said they were thinking something along the lines of what was at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club or Sunset Park in Ocean City. She added that that portion of the project could be donated back to the town when the town was ready.
Palmer Gillis maintained that his family wanted what town residents wanted for the site.
Councilman Steve Green asked how Gillis would ensure the project didn’t compete with downtown Berlin.
Gillis said that by proposing a variety of commercial businesses, including restaurants, he was simply sticking to the stipulations the town had put in the request for proposals.
“Nothing could ever replace the downtown in any hip little town,” Sandy Gillis said.
When asked how many businesses would be on the property, Gillis said it was hard to say at this point but that it was a proposed 40,000 square feet of retail space. The proposed garden center would take up much of it, however.
“I wish I could sit here and crystal ball exactly what we’d like to see but I can’t,” Gillis said. “With the restrictions proposed we’re in a box.”
Resident Gina Velong told the council she felt the town had overpaid for the park property in 2016, as it paid a commercial rate knowing the property would be rezoned to residential. She said now the town was about to sell at a residential rate knowing the property was going to become commercial.
“We are ripping ourselves off,” she said.
Another resident said the town was prepared to consider selling the property.
“This project is over the heads of everyone in this town,” she said. “Something would have been done by now if folks were up to the task.”
Resident Roger Fitzgerald said he’d served on what was once the Berlin Falls Park Advisory Committee. He said that committee had recommended demolition of the plant, something that was part of the Gillis plan.
“Let’s do it,” he said. “We could just wait forever and talk about the perfect opportunity and the plant will still sit there.”
Resident Marie Velong voiced numerous concerns with the proposal. She said some of the ideas in it were good but weren’t suitable for small Berlin.
“You have too many big ideas,” she said. “I feel like I’m in a Hallmark movie. That’s what it’s getting like.”
Resident Ron Cascio questioned Gillis’s interest in changing a stipulation in the proposed contract. He said Gillis wanted to reduce the retired 10 years of use as a garden center to seven years so that he could upzone the land later.
“Then the property becomes way more valuable,” he said.
Jack Burbage, a Berlin property owner, praised Gillis’s other projects but said he was worried about the project as envisioned currently competing with downtown.
“I think the town of Berlin is fragile,” he said. “I think it’s doing really well right now. I think if you put retail and restaurants and compete with what we have up here everybody’s going to fail. Like a house divided.”
He said he recalled when downtown Salisbury was a true small town and noted how drastically that had changed as Salisbury had grown. He said he didn’t want Berlin to make that same mistake.
“It needs to be something that complements downtown not competes with downtown,” he said.
Officials noted that the Berlin Parks Commission and the Berlin Planning Commission were slated to discuss the Gillis proposal later in the week so they could provide their input to the council.
