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Editorial
The Blade (Toledo, OH)
2-24-00
Despite its lip service to preservation of the Fallen Timbers National Historic Site, the cash-strapped Finkbeiner administration is clearly willing to use the threat of commercial development to obtain an unreasonably high price for the 185-acre tract in Maumee at the I-475/U.S. 24 interchange.
The city has an appraisal of $7.3 million on the property, based on its possible value as a commercial site. This is at sharp variance with two state appraisals which placed the value at $3.6 million and $3,885,000 respectively. City officials have said they will meet with the state appraisers to compare results, but they also sharply criticized the state appraisals as inadequate.
In 1995 the site under dispute was identified as the location of the 1794 battle of Fallen Timbers in which forces led by Gen. Anthony Wayne defeated an alliance of American Indian tribes. As a result, the 1795 treaty of Greenville opened much of Ohio and other parts of the Northwest Territory for settlement.
Congress in 1999 recognized the importance of this site by passing a bill creating a national historic site. Some observers believe that the site is now a kind of "brownfield," one which, because of its historical importance, would not be likely to attract developers. Its location at the intersection is not favorable to development, either, because it is partially zoned as residential land by the city of Maumee and access to it is difficult. The highest and best use for it is as a national park.
However, the site is still in jeopardy. Every day that passes without serious discussions of a deal creates further delays in efforts by this region's representatives in Congress to obtain an appropriation from the federal government to help purchase the land. Now that the federal budget is finally running a surplus after decades of deficits, there may never be a better opportunity than this year to obtain such funds.
The Finkbeiner administration says little these days about donating some acreage to the national park, as it did a few years ago with considerable press fanfare. Instead of firing off his letters to the state, which has committed to paying half the cost of the project if a reasonable price can be agreed upon, the mayor and his staff should be spending their time trying to find out whether a meeting of minds is possible. Perhaps this can be done despite the widely differing estimates of value placed on the Fallen Timbers site.
Obviously the city wants to obtain the best price it can, but realistically this will not equate with the land's value for commercial development. Now that the historic importance of the Fallen Timbers tract has been recognized by the state and federal governments, any effort to extract a premium price with the argument that it is prime commercial land would open the city to the risk of national ridicule and opprobrium.
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