MARIETTA - The Marietta Redevelopment Corp. is considering selling some of its property to the city to be used as parkland, and using money from the sale to pay off some of its debt to Bank of North Georgia.

MRC Chairman Ron Francis asked the MRC Wednesday for permission to negotiate with the council-appointed citizens parks committee, which is charged with advising the council how to spend the voter-approved $25 million parks bond.

Francis said parks committee members had approached the MRC to ask about acquiring the quarter of an acre parcel at the corner of Allgood and the North Loop that the MRC bought for about $80,000 a few years ago. The parcel would be used by the parks committee to help expand the Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center, a 1.8-acre, city-owned facility on Montgomery Street between Cole and Allgood streets, which is slated to get $3.75 million in parks bond money.

Francis said the MRC's North Loop property is not the only parcel the MRC should consider asking the parks committee to buy. There are also a number of parcels the MRC bought in the Hedges-Gramling Street neighborhood surrounding the 2.2-acre West Dixie Park that could be used to expand that park. City manager Bill Bruton said an expanded West Dixie Park would likely be used as a passive park as opposed to placing a ball field there. The park is on low ground and prone to flooding.

Selling off some of the MRC's property to the city for parkland would allow the MRC to pay off some of its loan to Bank of North Georgia, thereby reducing the amount of interest it's paying the bank, Francis said. The MRC pays the bank $200,000 to $225,000 a year in interest payments. Without selling any properties, it can probably afford to make that payment for the next four to six years, said MRC member and Councilman Grif Chalfant.

The MRC is a tax-exempt organization formed by the council in 2003. In 2006, the MRC received $2.1 million from the city to begin a land-buying fund. It used that money to secure a $6 million line of credit from Bank of North Georgia. In summer of 2007, the MRC embarked on plans to redevelop 98 acres of the dilapidated Hedges-Gramling neighborhood. But the recession hit, spurring the MRC to scale back to a smaller tract across from the Hilton Marietta Conference Center. Chalfant said the MRC has spent more than $4 million acquiring 28 parcels or 6.5 acres across from the Hilton in the targeted "pod" area. The MRC would like to own 35 parcels or 8 acres to gain control of the entire area, but some property owners have held out, asking for too much, he said.

While Francis said he wants to pursue the sale of some of the MRC owned parcels outside the pod, the MRC will hold onto the property in the pod for the time being, waiting for the economy to turn. Even when the time does come where a developer is interested in buying the pod, the MRC will have to charge top dollar in order not to take a loss.

"We owe $4 million, so if you have eight acres there, then you're talking $500,000 an acre," Francis said.

Mayor Steve Tumlin said he liked the idea of selling MRC property outside the targeted pod area to the city for parkland,

"I think it's great. We could use it for the parks. Elizabeth Porter is a high priority," Tumlin said.

In other business, in light of the MRC's one-year contract with its property manager, McNeel Building Systems, set to expire Wednesday, the MRC voted unanimously at the recommendation of member John Schupp to extend the contract on a month to month basis as it considers bringing its property management in house. The MRC pays McNeel $1,300 a month for its services.