The Board of Public Works yesterday unanimously approved a $5.75 million purchase of 30 acres in southern Anne Arundel County, even after Comptroller Peter Franchot questioned whether the price was $2 million too high.
Franchot asked county and state officials whether an estimated $2 million in development costs by the current owners were included in the purchase price. He argued that the state should not be reimbursing the developers for those costs.
"Are we paying way too much?" Franchot said.
Franchot noted that the forested land in Wayson's Corner, which was previously planned as the site of a shopping center across the street from a 1,400-acre nature preserve, was sold below the average of two appraisals of about $7 million.
County and state officials said the fact that the purchase price was less than the appraisals was not unusual, and they denied that development costs - including engineering, surveys and attorney's fees - were factored into the price.
The board approved the sale, 3-0.
The county is using Program Open Space funds to buy the land to preserve as a park, allowing wildlife to migrate through the Glendening Nature Preserve at Jug Bay and the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary.
County Executive John R. Leopold later said he was "satisfied" with the purchase price.
Leopold, a Republican who campaigned on keeping growth out of southern Anne Arundel, announced in May that he had struck a deal with developer Petrie Ross Ventures to preserve the property, which had been slated for a shopping center anchored by Target.
phill.mcgowan@baltsun.com