(Aug. 25, 2016) The ongoing feud between leadership in Berlin and the Adkins Company has apparently not abated, and no resolution to the closing of Harrison Avenue, which Adkins owns, appears imminent.
Adkins put up barricades on a portion of Harrison Avenue in June after town officials and the company could not reach agreement to purchase the road.
During a Berlin mayor and council meeting on Monday, resident Jack Orris, a candidate for the District 2 council seat, asked for an update during public comments.
“Going around, I’m talking to people and I’m at a loss to explain what’s going on currently with Harrison Avenue. People are asking me is there’s anything the council can do,” he said.
Mayor Gee Williams replied that the town would “not be extorted for $400,000,” referring to the price Adkins had apparently asked for the road.
“It’s going to create some inconvenience for a while, but I swear to God we’re not going to be extorted for $400,000 if hell has to freeze over. That’s the way it is,” he said. “I’m sorry that they’re so inconvenienced, but we didn’t put that blockade up there.
“Quite frankly, in time, I think it will cost them business,” Williams continued. “I tell other mayors about that and they just can’t even believe it. It’s something that we’ll deal with it in our time, but right now we’ve got other priorities and if people don’t like that then they need to talk to the Adkins Company, because they’re the one that put up the blockade – not the town of Berlin.”
Williams, clearly aggravated, went on to say the town had tried to purchase the property and had offered “every dollar that it’s worth.”
“We were ready to pay $60,000, which I think is pretty steep for a little tiny piece of road, and they told us ‘no, we won’t take less than $400,000,’” Williams said. “If you have a problem with it – if anybody else has a problem with it – go talk to them. They created the problem – not us.”
Orris said he did not want “give the impression that people were upset.”
“Well, we’re upset,” Williams said.
“I think they can tell,” Councilmember Elroy Brittingham added.
Adkins Executive Vice President Richard Holland, asked about the situation on Tuesday, said the rift with the town “has been going on quite a while.”
He said the company has owned the property, which was purchased from the David J. Adkins Company, since 1908. Holland has been with Adkins since 1974.
“The town has never maintained the roadway,” he said. “They have paved north of us and south of us and they don’t own north or south of us, but in our situation they’ve never wanted to pave it – they’ve never wanted to maintain it.
“I have a corporation, which means I have a board, and our board has always felt that to take that amount of property out of the center of our property would be very detrimental to the property,” Holland continued. “So I went to the mayor several years ago and said, why don’t we have it appraised and we’ll see whatever the appraisal is, then we’ll see about settling based on whatever the appraisal is.”
Holland said they agreed on using Trice Group LLC, a Salisbury company that also evaluated the former Tyson’s Chicken plant for the town.
“We tried to come up with a memorandum of understanding [and] they sent a memorandum of understanding that didn’t take into account the idea of appraising the entire property, and then what the property would be worth after you took out the roadway. There’s was only for the idea of whatever the roadway would appraise for without any damages to the entire property,” he said.
When that fell through, Holland said he hired Trice on his own and an appraisal was done of the roadway, the entire property, and how much the value of that would decrease after subtracting the roadway.
“They came up with over $300,000,” Holland said, adding that Williams did offer Adkins $60,000 after speaking with the council.
“I’m not saying they didn’t agree with Trice’s appraisal of the entire property and what it would be worth afterward, but that’s what it looked like to us,” Holland said. “I talked to my people and they said you don’t have any choice but to close the road, and that’s what we did.”
Asked why the board came to that decision, Holland replied, “because [the town] has a choice and they’re not taking that choice. Ever hear of eminent domain? They have that choice. That is the avenue for property disagreements.
“I don’t really have a choice other than to listen to my board and what they say,” he added. “They told me they wanted $400,000 for it.”
If the town did exercise eminent domain, it could seize the property and a judge would then decide what compensation the Adkins property would receive from the town.
“Mayor Williams used to work for the State Highway [Administration]. He knows as well as anyone what eminent domain means and the fact that it is an avenue for settling land disputes,” Holland said, adding that Maryland law included protection for property owners that included “severance damages for the value of you asset being decreased.”
“If they believe Trice on Tyson, why don’t they believe Trice on this?” he said. “If they really want the roadway, then file eminent domain and let some judge decide. We won’t have a choice in the matter at that point.”
Holland said he would much rather have the property, however, than for that to happen.
“I would much rather be able to redevelop this property into something nice at some point,” he said. “Right now we’re fine as a lumber yard, but 30 years down the road it could become something else – it could become something else five years down the road.”
While he admitted he is “semi-retired” and not often in the store, Holland said his staff has told him “a good 80-to-90 percent” of the people who came into the store were siding with Adkins.
“If they had a situation and they had land, and the state or the county or a town or the federal government wanted to take it, this is the avenue, that’s the reason the law was written,” he said. “But to sit there and talk innuendo against the Adkins Company, they’re not going to get anywhere with us because we have no choice.”
Adkins put up barricades on a portion of Harrison Avenue in June after town officials and the company could not reach agreement to purchase the road.
During a Berlin mayor and council meeting on Monday, resident Jack Orris, a candidate for the District 2 council seat, asked for an update during public comments.
“Going around, I’m talking to people and I’m at a loss to explain what’s going on currently with Harrison Avenue. People are asking me is there’s anything the council can do,” he said.
Mayor Gee Williams replied that the town would “not be extorted for $400,000,” referring to the price Adkins had apparently asked for the road.
“It’s going to create some inconvenience for a while, but I swear to God we’re not going to be extorted for $400,000 if hell has to freeze over. That’s the way it is,” he said. “I’m sorry that they’re so inconvenienced, but we didn’t put that blockade up there.
“Quite frankly, in time, I think it will cost them business,” Williams continued. “I tell other mayors about that and they just can’t even believe it. It’s something that we’ll deal with it in our time, but right now we’ve got other priorities and if people don’t like that then they need to talk to the Adkins Company, because they’re the one that put up the blockade – not the town of Berlin.”
Williams, clearly aggravated, went on to say the town had tried to purchase the property and had offered “every dollar that it’s worth.”
“We were ready to pay $60,000, which I think is pretty steep for a little tiny piece of road, and they told us ‘no, we won’t take less than $400,000,’” Williams said. “If you have a problem with it – if anybody else has a problem with it – go talk to them. They created the problem – not us.”
Orris said he did not want “give the impression that people were upset.”
“Well, we’re upset,” Williams said.
“I think they can tell,” Councilmember Elroy Brittingham added.
Adkins Executive Vice President Richard Holland, asked about the situation on Tuesday, said the rift with the town “has been going on quite a while.”
He said the company has owned the property, which was purchased from the David J. Adkins Company, since 1908. Holland has been with Adkins since 1974.
“The town has never maintained the roadway,” he said. “They have paved north of us and south of us and they don’t own north or south of us, but in our situation they’ve never wanted to pave it – they’ve never wanted to maintain it.
“I have a corporation, which means I have a board, and our board has always felt that to take that amount of property out of the center of our property would be very detrimental to the property,” Holland continued. “So I went to the mayor several years ago and said, why don’t we have it appraised and we’ll see whatever the appraisal is, then we’ll see about settling based on whatever the appraisal is.”
Holland said they agreed on using Trice Group LLC, a Salisbury company that also evaluated the former Tyson’s Chicken plant for the town.
“We tried to come up with a memorandum of understanding [and] they sent a memorandum of understanding that didn’t take into account the idea of appraising the entire property, and then what the property would be worth after you took out the roadway. There’s was only for the idea of whatever the roadway would appraise for without any damages to the entire property,” he said.
When that fell through, Holland said he hired Trice on his own and an appraisal was done of the roadway, the entire property, and how much the value of that would decrease after subtracting the roadway.
“They came up with over $300,000,” Holland said, adding that Williams did offer Adkins $60,000 after speaking with the council.
“I’m not saying they didn’t agree with Trice’s appraisal of the entire property and what it would be worth afterward, but that’s what it looked like to us,” Holland said. “I talked to my people and they said you don’t have any choice but to close the road, and that’s what we did.”
Asked why the board came to that decision, Holland replied, “because [the town] has a choice and they’re not taking that choice. Ever hear of eminent domain? They have that choice. That is the avenue for property disagreements.
“I don’t really have a choice other than to listen to my board and what they say,” he added. “They told me they wanted $400,000 for it.”
If the town did exercise eminent domain, it could seize the property and a judge would then decide what compensation the Adkins property would receive from the town.
“Mayor Williams used to work for the State Highway [Administration]. He knows as well as anyone what eminent domain means and the fact that it is an avenue for settling land disputes,” Holland said, adding that Maryland law included protection for property owners that included “severance damages for the value of you asset being decreased.”
“If they believe Trice on Tyson, why don’t they believe Trice on this?” he said. “If they really want the roadway, then file eminent domain and let some judge decide. We won’t have a choice in the matter at that point.”
Holland said he would much rather have the property, however, than for that to happen.
“I would much rather be able to redevelop this property into something nice at some point,” he said. “Right now we’re fine as a lumber yard, but 30 years down the road it could become something else – it could become something else five years down the road.”
While he admitted he is “semi-retired” and not often in the store, Holland said his staff has told him “a good 80-to-90 percent” of the people who came into the store were siding with Adkins.
“If they had a situation and they had land, and the state or the county or a town or the federal government wanted to take it, this is the avenue, that’s the reason the law was written,” he said. “But to sit there and talk innuendo against the Adkins Company, they’re not going to get anywhere with us because we have no choice.”