The Leland Township Board may act on a request from the proposed buyers of the county courthouse property in Leland to swap different sized waterfront parcels on the Leland river at a special meeting next Tuesday.

At its meeting Monday night, the board reviewed a request from Gene Kelly and James Varley to approve an agreement that covers five issues affecting their proposed purchase and development of the county courthouse property and adjacent parcels in Leland. Varley-Kelly Properties, Inc., submitted a bid to the county board in April 2007 to buy the property for $2.4 million. The two men originally had until April 1 to complete the deal.

Last week, Varley-Kelly submitted a request to the county to extend the purchase deadline through Oct. 1, 2008. The County Board Executive Committee recommended extending the deadline 60 days to June 1, and the full board was expected to approve the recommendation at its meeting Tuesday.

The Township Board, with trustees Nick Lederle and Steve Plamondon absent, took no action on the requests. Supervisor Harry Larkin said he didn’t want to proceed without the two trustees looking at the document. The board also wants township attorney Mardi Black to review the agreement and come up with specific terms for the proposed parcel swap. The Township Board, Planning Commission and Sewer Commission have scheduled a joint meeting on Tuesday, April 22, to go over the proposed new township Master Plan. The board may take action on the proposed document at the meeting. If not, Larkin said the board would hold a special meeting sometime before the end of the month to take action.

The agreement calls for swapping riverfront parcels within the proposed purchase. Leland Township owns a 50-foot wide parcel in the middle of the county-owned riverfront area. Varley said he and Kelly would like to swap the township-owned parcel, which is 2,575 square feet, with another 50-foot wide parcel on the south end of the county property that is 4,825 square-feet. As part of the agreement the township would place a conservation easement on the parcel to be held in perpetuity. Only a fence and a dock that runs perpendicular to the shore line would be allowed.

Varley-Kelly is also seeking to construct a Type 1 central water well system at Hancock Park in Leland. Due to known contamination problems with the county property, Varley said the state Department of Environmental Quality is requiring the developers to place a Type 1 system at least 2,000 feet away from the closest area of contamination.

Kelly said the developers originally looked at placing the well on a parcel to the northeast, but it would be too close to Leland Public School. The state also requires the well to be 2,000 feet away from other commercial well systems.

Varley said Hancock Park is the only publicly owned parcel that is nearby that would mostly meet this requirement. Besides the 2,000-foot requirement, the two wells that make up a Type 1 system must be placed 75 feet apart and have a 200-foot radius isolation area around them.

Varley said hydrology engineers believe they will be able to get a variance from the Department of Environmental Quality on placing the Type 1 system at Hancock because the wells would be located uphill from the contaminated area. The main well and test well would most likely be located in the woods beyond the outfield fence for the baseball diamond.

District No. 5 commissioner David Shiflett said the county and township will both have to amend their Brownfield Redevelopment agreements to include the location of the Type 1 system wells and any property used for locating the pipeline to bring the water to the proposed development. By amending the Brownfield agreements, the cost for the work could be part of the expense ultimately paid for by recaptured property tax revenues.

Varley-Kelly would also like the township to relocate an existing standpipe used by fire departments to pump water out of the river to the new township parcel, if the proposed parcel swap is approved.

Kelly said he and Varley need the Township Board to approve the proposed agreement on the items so they can submit a completed planned unit development application to the township Planning Commission. Kelly had hoped to submit the application at the commission’s meeting on April 2, but was unable to do so because the commission determined the application was incomplete.

Varley-Kelly Properties plans to secure approval of a planned unit development, called Rivertown, from the township and then sell the development to a builder for the actual construction. Rivertown would consist of 23 condominium units, a mix of traditional condo units, and site condominium residences.