No Court Decision on Sale of Old Sugar Valley School

LOCK HAVEN — A public hearing on the sale of the old Sugar Valley school complex turned into something of an adversarial proceeding in Clinton County Court on Tuesday.

When it was over Judge Michael Salisbury made no immediate decision as to sale approval but gave attorneys for the two sides until April 30 to file written briefs.

On the one side in the nearly three hour hearing was the Keystone Central School District, seeking required court approval for a board-approved sale of the district’s Loganton property to a borough couple who plan a grocery store.

On the other were several Loganton area business interests who just recently made a second belated bid to buy the property.

The school board in December had voted 6-3 to proceed with the advertised sale to, at the end of the advertised selling period, the lone prospective purchasers, Samuel and Salinda Lapp, the sale price $150,000.

That meeting had seen an after-the-deadline December offer from Sugar Valley resident Jim Harbach to match the Lapp submitted and approved price of $150,000.

Harbach and colleagues, it turned out, recently upped their offer to $190,000, a proposal which became public at the Tuesday hearing; that belated offer had been submitted to the school district by email on Friday of last week via Williamsport attorney Christopher Kenyon, representing Eugene Nicholas “and his colleagues.”

Donald Faulkner, representing the district, called a handful of witnesses to document the process and support the board decision to sell the school and surrounding acreage to the Lapps.

Realtor Beth Riccardo said the sale had been posted regionally on the web and only the Lapp offer was received in the authorized timeframe. She testified the Lapps signed a contract Nov. 5 and the school board publicly approved the purchase in December.

Salisbury noted the unusual nature of the court proceeding, alluding to the opposition, and said he would provide Kenyon some latitude in challenging the board decision.

Faulkner meanwhile said he believed the $150,000 sale price was reasonable and “circumstances” override the $190,000 March offer.

School board president Jack Peters was more outspoken in challenging the late offer from the Harbach/Nicholas group, saying “the horse is out of the barn.” Peters said everyone had “plenty of opportunities to make a formal written offer” in the time frame allowed.

Peters also disputed any allegations that the public was unaware of the planned sale, stating “everyone in the valley knew about it.
 Debra Nicholas, a former Keystone Central school board president, testified that she never saw any posted signs about the building being for sale. Riccardo responded by saying she had placed the signs there herself.

Samuel Lapp took the stand and detailed his plans for the property. He seeks to convert the elementary school portion into a grocery store with 20 to 25 employees. He said a survey had been done and the site, near the center of Loganton, is a “great location.”

At the sale price of $150,000 Lapp estimated that with the property back on the tax rolls, it would produce about $150 a year in real estate taxes for Loganton, $810 for Clinton County and better than $1,700 for the school district.

He told the court that others had attempted to “dissuade” him from buying the property and he had hired a lawyer to protect his interests. But Lapp called the community reaction to his grocery store plans overwhelmingly positive.

Loganton resident Sandra Leighty introduced a six-page petition in favor of the Lapp plans and told the court the community would benefit from the grocery store, it would aid the tax base and preserve the building.

School board member Wayne Koch, who represents the Sugar Valley area, reaffirmed his support for the sale to the Lapps. He said when he was on Loganton borough council consideration had been given to acquiring the school site but then “reality,” the cost of pursuing the plan, set in and the matter was dropped.

Harbach testified his group wants to buy the site to preserve the school building for the community.

Lapp meanwhile talked about others who have expressed interest in locating in the building under his domain. He also said he would like to work with the borough on use of the land, including a possible leasing of the some of the vacant acreage for recreational purposes.

Salisbury gave no indication as to when he would make a ruling once the two sides file briefs by the end of this month.

See our related story, including video coverage of the actual testimony and discussion, from the Dec. 12, 2013 KCSD board meeting when the sale of the school was approved here.