The third base line, into left field at the Panaca Little League field at Pioneer Park, along with the parking lot, and the hill behind it is owned by the Panaca Farmstead, including half of the steel building on the same property.
Tyler Free, Panaca Town Board member, met with County Commissioners at their regular June 15 meeting asking about a progress update. Free said a land swap has been proposed with the Farmstead, “so we could have that land at the park.” Panaca Farmstead has agreed to the swap he said, but no farmstead members were at the Commission meeting to comment.
County building director Cory Lytle said he had already been contacted by the farmstead. He said in 2011, Commissioners had approved the proposal. “Basically, what we’re trying to do is clean up property. It has to do with the original Pioneer Park SNPLMA project.”
Lytle said Panaca Farmstead is “agreeable to us trading them another piece that sits by the landfill, right above the sewer ponds as you are going east out of town, and when you trade properties or any kind of a public entity, when you do any kind of an exchange on real estate or property, an appraisal is required. What is holding us up right now are some technicalities on the appraisal.”
He said, “I talked with the appraiser last week and he was going to meet with the district attorney to see if a disclaimer can be put on the appraisals, which have already been done,” Lytle said. He explained, “Technically, these are commercial properties and it is more a matter of public facility zoning, but after that is done, then we can exchange deeds.”
Because the park was built with SNPLMA grant funds, Lytle said they have been careful not to do any improvements on ground the county did not own, but after the exchange is completed, improvements on that piece can be more fully considered. “We’re just trying to clean things up and make it right,” he said.
