Millsboro's request-for-proposal process won't include park

MILLSBORO — Through a request-for-proposal process, the town is gauging what some of its properties might draw on the open market.

“We’ve had several groups reach out about town-owned properties. Something other municipalities have done is put out RFPs, and then, you get creative ideas to come in,” town manager Jamie Burk told Town Council on Monday, June 1.

“It doesn’t obligate you to do anything, but it can give you an idea, without paying a consultant, to kind of evaluate all your properties. It’s nothing that is going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen in a vacuum. It’s all public.”

Four properties were initially identified for the process, he added. One was Cupola Park along the Indian River, but it did not make the approved RFP list.

The places that were chosen Monday, in a 4-3 vote, are the former police station property, the Main Street property that houses the Greater Millsboro Chamber of Commerce and the train depot.

The motion was proposed by Councilmember Kimberley Kaan, with Councilmember Mary D’Silva seconding it.

Contacted Tuesday, Kaan explained why she excluded Cupola Park, which is near her residence. She said she had seen a post on social media regarding a “rumor” that the parcel may be sold to a contractor for a housing development.

“Since that post, … and forgetting my own personal feelings about it, my phone has been ringing off the hook this week. That park is an absolute treasure. It is the best thing Millsboro has, in my opinion,” Kaan said at the meeting. “People adamantly want that park to stay a park.”

Councilmember Marty Presley agreed. “It should be some type of open-park space for the town in general. But would it be worth taking a look and seeing if someone has some ideas to come in and do the bulkheading, fill the backfill in so it doesn’t flood and (provide) development in some way that could preserve the park atmosphere and possibly a business aspect to it?”

Presley added that, if a vote was taken at Monday’s meeting, it would likely be 7-0 to keep the park as is. “My question is, what would the harm be to do the RFP and see if there are some ideas out there that we haven’t thought of that could possibly cover all the bases?” he said.

Kaan replied, “I don’t want to waste my time and anybody else’s time. I really think that this will become a nuclear issue in this town if there is even an inkling of something changing down there.”

D’Silva utilizes the park daily, she noted.

“I walk my dog there in the morning, and I walk in the afternoon,” she continued. “There is a large population that comes to the park that doesn’t live in Millsboro. And it has been their way of taking a break from work. A lot of people who work in the area ... come to relax at the park during their break.”

Mayor Bob McKee said the RFP process is just beginning. “The town can choose to accept proposals, reject all the proposals,” he added. “You can put restrictions (in) when you get to the development portion.”

Councilmember Ron O’Neal sided with Kaan, D’Silva and Councilmember Gary Mack and said he has “no issue with doing some of the work that Mr. Presley is talking about — the bulkheading, the backfilling.”

“I have to agree that that is going to be a nuclear issue if that comes up, and we try to develop that area. It has been here forever. I think it needs to remain here forever,” O’Neal stated. “As far as moving forward to develop something like that as a business venture, I don’t think it’s going to work.”

In the end, McKee, Presley and Councilmember Ron Mason opposed Kaan’s motion, which excluded Cupola Park.