By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The number of land sales in the Town of Naples is down slightly.

The market is not bad, but it has not improved much since the previous years’ recorded property sales.

Three large town-owned parcels officially went up for sale about a year ago; one lot off Perly Mills Road sold quite easily while two other 10-acre parcels haven’t generated much interest, according to Realtor Jocelyn O’Rourke-Shane of Maine Real Estate Choice.

“I think it is time to do a price reduction,” she told the Naples Board of Selectmen on Monday.

“There has been limited activity with the property. Not a lot has sold in Naples. I am suggesting that we do price reduction,” she said.

Also, the land might be more appealing if there is an option to buy both parcels and merge the land, providing a bigger buffer, O’Rourke-Shane said.

“We have had a few requests about putting the two lots together,” she said.

Ultimately, the board voted to postpone both the discussion and the decision until its next meeting in two weeks.

As pointed out by O’Rourke-Shane, the sales strategy is one suitable for executive session.

On Monday, O’Rourke-Shane described the land: “One is nine acres and the other is 10.5 acres. The nine-acre lot has the more buildable land. The only issue with selling them together, there is a buffer for the subdivision. There has to be a 50-foot buffer between lots. A current purchaser of the land would have to go before the planning board.”

Someone at the table asked O’Rourke-Shane if the town should combine the lots.

“No, not merge them. Offer them as a package deal to the buyer and they can decide if they want to merge them,” she said.

Selectman Bob Caron II asked what the value of the land was when she started working with the town to put these properties on the market.

“That is why the numbers came in this way. The land was valued at more because the town expected that value way back then,” she said.

The town has owned at least one of the lots since 1991. That lot was used for a transfer site — with removal bins used to collect household trash and recycling. The ramp is still on the property, she said.

“We have a trustee deed on it. I don’t know if someone passed and deeded the land to the town,” O’Rourke-Shane said.

Selectman Rich Cebra said, “Let’s table this tonight.”

He suggested going into executive session to discuss it – at the board’s regular meeting in two weeks.

“We put this on the market a while back. I think we need to talk about it a little more,” Cebra said.

The vote was unanimous to table whether or not there would be price reduction of the town-owned lots. The board meets on Dec. 11.