House backs tweak to Dix bill
House lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday on a bill that would dissolve the lease for the Dorothea Dix property but offer the City of Raleigh concessions for not fighting a rewrite of the deal.
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The bill would allow the state to negotiate new terms to sell a large chunk of the Dix property along with land used by the Governor Morehead school to the City of Raleigh.
"Everyone can agree that having a solution is better than not having one," said Jordan Shaw, a spokesman for House Speaker Thom Tillis. "We hope this bill will make it possible to find a solution."
The Senate-approved version of the bill would have used the state's powers of condemnation to take the lease from the city, a strategy that prompted threats of lawsuits.
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The House version of the bill, a draft of which was reviewed by WRAL News Wednesday morning, already has the blessing of city officials.
The bill lays out a number of potential legal problems with the Perdue-signed lease, including:
- A potential issue with the original property grants being given "in trust." Legislative lawyers say they are unclear on what exactly those deed provisions mean, but say it could open the state up to a lawsuit by people who need mental health services. That issue, they say, could be cured if proceeds of the sale were put toward mental health, but not if the sale is below fair market value. Lawmakers say the Perdue lease under-values the property.
Citing this litany of faults, the new draft of the House bill dissolves the Dix lease. However, that provision doesn't take effect until April 1, 2014, giving the state and city time to negotiate a sale while preserving the city's right to sue if a deal can't be reached. House lawmakers are hoping their approach will make the city decide not to sue and rather renegotiate the deal.
City leaders, including Mayor Nancy McFarlane, have said they believe the lease is legal and don't agree there are any potential legal defects. Dix Visionaries, a private group helping to raise money to build the park, also backs the lease. That House bill attempts to appease those parties rather simply retake the property by force of law.
The bill calls for the state to preserve some of the property as a location for the Department of Health and Human Services. The rest of the land would be sold to the city at fair market value as a cash sale, an installment purchase or some other method agreeable to both parties.
As an enticement to the city, the bill also says the the Governor Morehead School grounds could be included in the deal. Until Wednesday, the Morehead property has not been part of the negotiations.
Further, the bill reserves any proceeds from the sale for mental health purposes.
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