City Council rejects two bids for historic Black property

Longtime Olney resident Brenda Pratt and her brother Mike Pace had long wanted to reclaim land that had been in their family for decades and was the site of the Black community, school and church. The land has been vacant since at least 2010, and Mrs. Pratt and her brother, both Olney High School graduates and the children of Alfred and Arstine Pace, imagined family and friends holding gatherings on the properties.

Mr. Pace and Mrs. Pratt informed the Council that they would not build on the lots, which are zoned B3 Central Business District (409 E. Elm St.) and B3 Residential (411 E. Elm St.), but instead submitted plans to extend Mrs. Pratt’s yard for family gatherings.

But their efforts of several months to purchase two fore- closed lots beside Mrs. Pratt’s home failed after the City Council turned down their bids on the properties, underscoring the cumbersome and seemingly arbitrary process for selling the foreclosed lots.

The Council approved a similar request by Efraim ‘Penny’ Molina on May 8, but declined to explain why the Pace family’s plan would not be acceptable.

Although Mrs. Pratt and Mr. Pace worked with personnel at the Texas Communities Group [TCG] to meet the minimum bids for 409 E. Elm St. and 411 E. Elm St., and were the only bidders, the Council declined both offers even after being shown that TCG’s website was not properly displaying the minimum bid amounts or the required plans for proposed usage of the lots.

Each denial means that bidders must wait months to rebid – for the lots to reappear on the TCG site, to bid again, and wait for a 25-day bidding window to expire, then wait again for the Council to review the bids at one of its twice-monthly meetings.

But some community members say the Council should be more sensitive to the preservation of African American history in Olney.

The 0.17-acre lot at 409 E. Elm St. lies where African-American members of the community lived, attended school, and worshiped. The 0.06acre lot at 411 E. Elm St. was owned by Mrs. Pratt’s and Mr. Pace’s uncle, Robert Washington, before it was sold outside the family.

The lots then returned to the City of Olney and eventually were listed on the TexasCG.com website at prices that increased each year as the City paid to maintain them. The County Appraisal District calculated that 409 E. Elm St. is worth $2,000 while 411 E. Elm St. is worth $2,500, the County website showed.

The City put the two Elm Street lots up for sale in a batch of 10 foreclosed lots on Aug. 14. The Council asked TCG to list a minimum bid of $2,064.14 for 409 E. Elm St., and of $4,933.13 for 411 E. Elm St. but they were listed on the website for $1,540. Mr. Pace bid $10 over the minimum bid and Mrs. Pratt bid the minimum bid displayed on the website.

The Council determined at its Oct. 23 meeting that Mr. Pace and Mrs. Pratt had not met the minimum bids or submitted appropriate plans for the lots.

Mayor Rue Rogers and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Parker said in separate interviews that the Council may not approve Mr. Pace and Mrs. Pratt’s plans for the lots even if they win a third bid, but would not say what type of use the City had in mind for the lots.

The Council’s denials appear to be based on its yearlong delay in updating the City’s zoning to deter out-of-town property speculators, protect housing values, and attract home builders to town.