By Richard Caines

SALISBURY — Salisbury City Council is moving forward with plans to sell a housing complex on the city’s West Side for low-income residents.

The council voted on April 1 to sell Mitchell Landing Apartments to Green Street Housing for $1.38 million after accepting the bid in 2021. Located at 135 Mitchell Road, the 2.68-acre property has five buildings with a total of 24 apartments, a management office, a laundry room and a community room.

Mayor Randy Taylor, elected last year, said the complex fell under disrepair under the city’s watch. He said soon after assuming the role of mayor, he dug into the land disposition agreement and discovered what was discussed with the council in the past and what was agreed in the agreement were two different things.

Tayor said that added up to more than a million dollars difference.

“So, I raised the issue, and took me about three or four weeks to sort of figure out where the confusion lies and then we had a closed session discussion on the topic and council gave me the permission to go back and try and renegotiate with the buyer,” Taylor said.

But City Council Vice President Angela Blake told Taylor during the March 1 City Council meeting that they did give him a window of opportunity.

“That window has closed,” Blake said. “We have already voted on this, and we are going to invoke the administerial act and we are going to supersede that, and our legal counsel can write a letter to (the buyer’s attorney) saying it’s a go with the project.”

Taylor told the council during the meeting that all he is doing is looking out for the taxpayer.

“I wouldn’t otherwise make a big deal out of this except for the fact that it was substantial,” Taylor said.

The city bought the Mitchell Landing property in 1984 from the Salisbury Brick Co. for $200,000, according to state land records. Green Street’s attorney wrote in a letter to the city that they have spent $750,000 in predevelopment costs to facilitate the acquisition of the property and its rehab through low-income tax credits and tax-exempt bonds and want to move the project forward.

Habitat for Humanity of Wicomico County Executive Director Molly Hilligoss told the council the property is one of the last that can get the tax credits due to the most recent U.S. Census.

“It is really important the timing of the rehab of this project happen expeditiously so the developer can take advantage of those low-income tax credits which help to keep the property available for low-income families that need subsidized housing and I’m very upset that there was a chance that this project could be delayed,” Hilligoss said.

The decision to sell the apartment complex in 2021 came after a serious maintenance issue was discovered, requiring the relocation of all the tenants in one building.

As soon as the management company for the complex detected a problem with a support beam, the city took action by moving the tenants and calling in a structural engineer, officials previously said.

The city paid for the tenants’ moving expenses, including packing up their belongings, with up to $20,000 authorized for that purpose by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

Potential buyer Green Street Housing is based in Salisbury and owns numerous other affordable housing complexes in the region, including the Samuel Chase Apartments in Princess Anne.

Reach Managing Editor Richard Caines at rcaines@iniusa.org.