Comptroller Seeks Delay in Land Buy
Franchot Questions the Price Tag On State's Purchase of 271 Acres

By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 3, 2007; B06

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot yesterday asked Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration to delay final purchase of 271 acres of undeveloped land in Queen Anne's County, asking whether the state was vastly overpaying for the property.

"In order to ensure that Maryland's taxpayers are getting the best possible deal for their money . . . I am writing today with several questions," Franchot (D) wrote in a letter to the Department of Natural Resources, which is buying the land for $5 million for use by the county under the state's preservation program.

The three-member state Board of Public Works approved $4.6 million for the land purchase last month. Franchot, who serves on the board along with the governor and state treasurer, voted for the deal after expressing reservations about why the price exceeded two appraisals of the property's value. The county put in $400,000.

Franchot and some state lawmakers have questioned whether the owner, a for-profit conservation company founded by David Sutherland, a member of the governor's transition team, was able to secure a higher price from the state than necessary. One appraisal put the land's value at $3.6 million; another set it at $4.6 million.

O'Malley spokesman Steve Kearney said Sutherland was one of 1,100 members of the transition team.

State Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) also has asked the attorney general's office to investigate the deal. He has raised questions about work that John R. Griffin, Department of Natural Resources secretary, did before his appointment to design a possible park on the site.

In a two-page letter that the O'Malley administration made public last night, Griffin told Franchot that his former employer, Buchart-Horn Inc., was hired to prepare a preliminary site design for Sutherland's company in 2005. Griffin worked on that project but said he had nothing to do with the appraisal or sale negotiations for the property and has no financial interest in the deal.

When he took the job in the administration in January, Griffin said, he consulted the State Ethics Commission and was told that he had no conflict of interest.

Griffin also wrote that the county and seller plan to close on the land next week. "It is ultimately their decision" whether to delay the closing, he wrote.

He said the state is negotiating a conservation easement on an adjacent property.

O'Malley defended the purchase yesterday as aboveboard and said it was not unusual for the state to pay top dollar for private land that is not being taken by eminent domain. He said he has full confidence in Griffin.

"Do I believe anything was not done properly with the purchase of this open space? No, I do not," the governor said.