Sloan Wants Half A Million From Feds For Land Developer Makes Counter Offer In Dispute Over Easement
Stan Sloan finally named his price. For nearly half a million dollars, the Post Falls developer said he will end his feud with the federal government over an easement it wants across a 30-foot strip of land he owns in the Spokane Valley.
“I think that’s fair,” Sloan said Monday.
The government wants the easement so it can run a water line to a drug and alcohol treatment facility it’s building near Eighth and Carnahan.
Since April, Sloan and officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have haggled over the land’s worth.
The government’s initial offer for the easement was $100.
It has since offered to pay $10,000 for the entire 30-foot strip, which runs for nearly 1,000 feet along the south side of the treatment facility’s property.
Sloan, a bitter government critic who thinks the feds are out of control, has scoffed at all offers.
But he said Monday he’s sick of fighting and has offered what he considers a compromise.
On Tuesday, he sent his proposal to Kenneth Harper, chief engineer in Health and Human Services’ Seattle office.
Sloan said in the letter that he is willing to sell the government the 30-foot strip plus four other acres he owns near the treatment facility - about five acres total - for $90,000 per acre.
Sloan claims the other four acres, land he planned to build homes on, have been rendered worthless by the treatment facility, which will house 32 Native American youths addicted to drugs or alcohol.
“Would you buy a house near that thing?” he said Monday. “Of course not. This way, I get my profit out of the subdivision, and (the feud) just goes away. I think it’s a hell of a deal for everybody.”
Harper declined Tuesday to discuss the negotiations or Sloan’s offer.
“The dealings between me and Mr. Sloan are private dealings, and I’m not inclined to talk to you about them,” Harper said in a telephone interview.
It’s unlikely that Harper will accept Sloan’s proposal, however. In a letter to Sloan dated Aug. 18, the engineer said the $10,000 was his “last and final offer.”
There’s a chance that the government will try to condemn the land needed for the easement, pay Sloan the appraised value of $100 and install the water line.
Sloan said Monday he fully expects such a move and that he will use force, if necessary, to stop it.
“Oh, it’s coming. You can count on it,” said Sloan, who added he would attack workers with his bulldozer. “And somebody’s going to get hurt. Either me, or the poor S.O.B. out there doing the work.”
, DataTimes