Connellsville Council may attempt to sell an empty city lot through two popular Web sites after failing to find a buyer the traditional way. Council is considering whether to list the former Troutman's lot along Crawford Avenue on eBay, an Internet auction site, and Yahoo!, an Internet search engine that runs an auction. 'I'm tired of sitting on this property,' said Councilwoman Judy Keller. 'We need to get it back on the tax roles.' The city, which is asking at least $30,000 for the lot, has been trying to get rid of it for the past four years. Officials have run print ads, posted signs and hired a real estate broker, but to no avail. 'I think we need to expand our horizons,' Keller said. She said there's an advantage to advertising on the Web simply because of the number of people who use it. 'There's always people looking for something. They like to look at (those sites) like people like to do crossword puzzles.' On the other hand, if the city is going to advertise the lot electronically, it ought to use other Web sites, said Councilwoman Sharon Rendine. 'I think logically people are going to turn to the Web site of a well-known Realtor,' she said. Rendine also said there's more the city could do, such as making a list of developers and contacting them about the lot, as well as giving real estate companies more of a chance to sell the lot. The city had a six-month agreement with Coldwell Banker Laurel Ridge Realty in Connellsville, but let it lapse after no buyer was found. 'We didn't give Coldwell Banker a fair chance,' said Rendine. Dennis Martin, a company broker who was marketing the lot, agreed, saying he or any other real estate agent should be given at least a year to do the job properly. 'It's a tough property to market,' said Martin. But before council plans its next step, the first thing it needs to do is to decide whether to lift a set of restrictions it has placed on any potential buyers, Rendine and Mayor Tom Duncan said. Those restrictions state that development on the lot 'must enhance the downtown,' construction must be completed within a year of the deed being transferred and that the lot cannot be used 'significantly as a parking lot.' 'That lot is not going to sell until we lift the restrictions,' said Duncan. 'This is a free enterprise system and business people want to be able to develop a lot.' Council will meet meeting Monday to discuss the matter. While the city searches for a buyer, it loses roughly $450 to $500 in annual property taxes, said Paula Childs, the city's tax collector. Troutman's went out of business in the early 1980s, said Ralph Wombacker, Connellsville Redevelopment Authority executive director. Over the years, several entrepreneurs proposed to build, among other things, upscale apartments and store and office space. For one reason or another, those deals all fell apart. And so did the building. By 1994, it had deteriorated to the point that bricks were falling onto parked cars. Rather than going through the expense of condemning the building and taking possession of it through eminent domain, the city paid owners Gary T. and Adriana Phares $6,000 and forgave them on owed city taxes. Officials then decided to spend $119,000 in Community Development Block Grant money to have it knocked down in 1997. Pieces of the building were salvaged and installed in Lions Square, a park across the street from where it once stood.

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