SALISBURY, MD - A simmering dispute over a Salisbury development project is growing even more contentious as the sale of the Mitchell Landing Apartments remains in limbo.
City Officials began working on a sale of the Apartments to Green Street Housing in 2021, but Mayor Randy Taylor, who assumed office in December of 2023, took issue with the sale price. Earlier this month, Taylor disagreed with the $1.3 million deal the previous administration made with the developer, saying the price fell short of the property value.
Green Street Housing’s David Layfield, however, says he expected to close on the sale last week and has hired a lawyer to sue the city for what he calls a breach of contract.
“What’s the point of having a signed contract if it’s not going to be honored?” Layfield said this week. “Our society is nothing without contract law, because if I can do anything I want even though I’ve signed a contract, then what good is my name? What good is anything? And the mayor wants to renege on a valid commitment the city made in 2021.”
Rivermich LLC, a cooperation between Green Street Housing and the Wicomico Housing Authority, also demanded last week that the City of Salisbury stop interfering with and delaying the sale.
On September 6th, Mayor Taylor doubled-down, saying an attorney found issues with the sale process during the previous administration and questioned the validity of the contract. Legal counsel sought out by Taylor argue Rivermich LLC wasn’t a legally existing entity when the City entered the agreement in 2021, and that the sale contract must first be amended.
Taylor also cites funding for both the purchase and especially rehabilitation of the apartments, which he says Rivermich LLC has failed to guarantee.
“As you can see, there are meaningful challenges with the contract's righteousness INDEPENDENT of the obvious challenge of the CDA commitment,” Taylor writes in response to a Notice of Default sent by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. “This commitment for financing - in my mind- is both a contractual obligation, but it is central to protecting the City's interest as it is the only mechanism to bring this project to fruition.”
“Mitchell Landing is an extremely important component of local affordable housing and it has been "off-line" for way too long and can not be moth-balled any longer,” the Mayor wrote.
Mayor Randy Taylor’s full letter and independent legal review are attached to this article.
