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QUINNESEC -- Breitung Township could soon be in the real estate business.
The Breitung Township Board voted 5-1, with Trustee Aaron Rochon absent, at its meeting Monday to have a market appraisal done on three township-owned parcels that could soon be up for sale.
"We'd like to sell these and get them back on the tax rolls," Township Supervisor Denny Olson said.
The properties include one parcel at 629 E. Breen St. and two contiguous parcels at 441 E. Breitung Ave. and 109 Fisher Road that will be sold together, Township Superintendent Steve Mulka said.
"It's a good building lot," Mulka said of two parcels on Breitung and Fisher. "I think it'd be very marketable."
The township already has invested in cleaning up both locations, spending $2,000 to raze a mobile home and cap utilities at the Breen Street parcel and more than $30,600 in clearing the other side, where three buildings had to be torn down and cleared, and the utilities capped, Mulka said.
While board members seemingly agreed on selling the properties, there was some disagreement on how they should be priced. Initial discussions centered on amounts that would cover the township's clean-up costs.
"We shouldn't put the Breitung property up for sale before we find out what it's worth," Trustee Ben Peterson said. "I think we're putting the cart before the horse."
Peterson suggested the township, without yet agreeing to any type of broker contract, ask area real estate agencies about a potential asking price for the Breitung-Fisher parcels and contact property owners adjacent to the Breen Street site on whether they'd like to purchase it.
However, Trustee Rich Wales, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the township's assessor's office should be tasked with the job.
"We have an assessor's department. They can tell us what it's worth," he said.
While following the board's direction, Mulka said he will have both a market study completed by a local real estate agent and a sales study done by the assessor's office.