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A 2004 state law requires that the struggling port be closed by Dec. 31, and the Town Council gave final approval last month to the land's redevelopment plans.
The Ports Authority is scheduled to issue a request for redevelopment proposals before Christmas, Ports Authority lawyer Neil Robinson told Town Council members at a special council meeting Wednesday. Developers will have 90 days to respond, putting bid closure at the end of March, Robinson said.
Town officials and residents spent about two months tinkering with the guidelines developers will have to follow in terms of density, building height and general aesthetics. The final product, a planned-unit development, calls for 480 homes with an average density of 9.5 homes per acre, 90,000 square feet of commercial space and a marina with a maximum of 225 boat slips. Homes include single-family homes, apartments and condominiums.
The council also passed a first reading Wednesday of an ordinance clarifying that the town owns sections of streets that run onto the port property.
According to the most recent plat that could be found, circa 1939, the grid on which the town was laid extends across the port property and into the marsh. Ports Authority and town lawyers advised the council to pass an ordinance legally asserting its ownership of the land platted for roads.
Mayor Sam Murray said before the property is sold, lawyers wanted to make sure there is a clear deed on those streets to prevent development from going right on top of the land platted for roads and disrupting the streets' grid pattern.
The council will take up a second and final reading of the ordinance at its regular meeting Wednesday.
Council members also met in an executive session to hear a presentation from two men wanting to partner in the port redevelopment. Murray said the council listened to their proposal as a courtesy but cannot enter into a contract with them because they must go through the bid process.
