Haw River State Park supporter John Young comments on the latest development on the Bluegreen deal:

It is way past time for Bluegreen to accept the generous offer from NCDENR to purchase Bluegreen’s option on the approximately 700 acres that adjoin the current HRSP. The state’s current offer allows Bluegreen to go ahead and fulfill their full offer to all three of the property owners plus put a little money in their pocket to help cover expenses they have incurred……

It appears that all the property owners also want Bluegreen to accept the state’s generous offer so that they can get their money based on Bluegreen’s current offer.

Again, I don’t see it that way. If the landowners do want Bluegreen to accept the state’s deal, then they’d have no reason to seek a delay in the hearing before county commissioners, if indeed commissioners are primed to turn down Bluegreen’s rezoning request. If that happens, then the land holds no value for Bluegreen, leaving the state as the only suitor, right? Help me out if I’m missing the logic.

Admittedly, much is unknown because principals on both sides of the issue have remained tight-lipped about negotiations. To this date, all we’ve heard from the landowners has come from Justin Catanoso’s October Business Journal article where Thaxton Richardson states his point of view:

The first time Richardson and many other property owners knew of the state’s interest in buying their land was when they were invited to a meeting in early 2004 with state officials.

“They laid out what they wanted, and it looked like a done deal,” Richardson recalls. “The impression they left was one of arrogance, as if they were entitled to our land. No one ever came to us before that meeting and asked what we would like to do.”

….Other nearby property owners, even some eager to see their land go for parkland, complain of difficulties and delays in dealing with state officials — all of which leads them to suspect that the state is angling to pay them less than their land is worth.

….Three years after the fact, the state may have the opportunity to make it up to Richardson and the other property owners involved. It all depends on what Bluegreen decides.

I’m sure everyone is negotiating this deal in good faith. That said, let’s not assume the state is the benevolent party here.