The Wicomico County Council has agreed that Assistant County Administrator Weston Young should continue researching several pieces of county-owned property in an effort to declare them surplus and sell them.

Each will have to be approved by the council before being put on the market.

“I identified them by going through all the county-owned properties and determining, do we really need it? It’s something that has been on my plate for some time,” Young told council members last week.

Councilman Marc Kilmer thanked him for working on the project and said it had been discussed for awhile prior to Young taking the initiative.

Property locations are:

• 233 Naylor Mill Road, east of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center.
• Less than 8,000 square feet at 601 Delaware Avenue. This one, and two pieces of property next to it, at 504 and 506 Woodland, about 9,000-square-foot pieces, were all obtained in a tax sale in the early 2000s. They are vacant. “We see no need for them. They can easily be put back on the market. They seem to be developable,” Young said.
• Property on Rose Street obtained by the county in a tax sale and undeveloped.
• Property off Old Ocean City Road that doesn’t have access to Old Ocean City Road anymore and is on Beaglin Park Drive. Because of lack of access, it might be better for an adjacent property owner to buy it, Young said, but Council President John Cannon asked if a right-of-way can be obtained. Young said it could, but a more detailed title search is necessary.
• Land in Mardela Springs acquired when the county bought the George M. Suggs property after Barren Creek Road washed out during a storm two years ago. The county bought a series of parcels, Young said, explaining one was the Suggs’ residential property, which has been sub-divided and is listed for sale. Others are a 16-acre pond bottom and 6 acres with no access from the road. “The thought is to surplus it and offer it to be sold to the adjacent property owner,” Young said.
• Territory south of Hebron, off Wood and Bell avenues once purchased by the Wicomico County Board of Education. “This looks like it has development potential and we really should get it back in the private sector,” Young said.
• Wooded and wetlands property off Capitola Road.
• About .6 acres on Delaware Avenue obtained by the county during a tax sale. Young said it has no formal street address.
• About 2.5 acres off Red Hill Lane, used as a spoil site for a small dredging project. It doesn’t have development potential and one property owner has asked about buying it. “We do not have use for it and we think it could go back on the tax rolls,” Young said.

“As long as there is no heartburn on any of those, we can proceed with bringing them to sale,” Young told the Council, adding the smaller the parcel, the more sense it makes to auction it.

“We want to get the best dollar for them and get them back on the tax rolls,” Young said.