Local officials and the FMC corp. Have clashed over whether Warren County will have to pay for land at the Avtex Fibers Superfund site that the county plans to use for a new school maintenance facility.

But officials said Monday that they still expect the transfer of the 440-acre former rayon plant to take place by the end of the year.

The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development authority will take over the site to redevelop it with a mix of commercial, office, light industrial and recreational uses and a conference center.

Agreements calling for the transfer of the site to the authority were to have been completed by today, when a bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled in federal court in Reading, Pa.

On Friday, county officials said the agreements won’t be ready on time, but they wouldn’t detail what is holding them up.

Among the first parcels at the site to be redeveloped is the parking lot across Kendrick lane from the main Avtex site. County officials hope to use part of those 10 acres for a school maintenance building.

Board of Supervisors Chairman James L. McManaway said Monday that FMC is now insisting that the county pay for part of the parking lot land.

"FMC has changed somewhat the terms we had verbally agreed to." he said.

But an FMC spokesman said nothing has changed and the expectation that the county will eventually pay for any land not later redeveloped and sold is not new.

"Basically it’s the same as it’s always been," John Burke said. "They can have the use of that property for eight years. At the end of eight years, they have to either sell it or pay us a fair market value for it."

The real estate agreement being hammered out by local, state, federal and FMC officials calls for the authority, FMC, the bankruptcy trustee and Environmental Protection Agency to be paid a portion of the profits once parcels at the site are prepared for redevelopment and sold, McManaway said.

"There is a formula for who gets the money," excluding the authority’s costs for building infrastructure, he said.

Burke said county officials have asked that the parking lot, as well as other sections of the Avtex site, be excluded from that formula. But it has always been understood that the parking lot would not be excluded, he said.

The supervisors and Front Royal Town Council met in closed session Monday to discuss the issue. Officials said after the meeting that they hammered out a position for Heavener and County Attorney Douglas W. Napier to take in the last negotiation stages on the land transfer.

McManaway wouldn’t detail what that position is, but said to him the "idea is not appealing" of paying for the

parking lot land.

Heavener said the land is appraised at $7,000 an acre.

And courthouse renovations and construction of a new administration complex on its plate, the county is strapped for cash, officials said.

McManaway said paying for the parking lot would probably deplete the county’s cash reserves with more that half of the fiscal year remaining.

Town and county officials have no problem with another part of the agreement: that both jurisdictions forgive back taxes on the property in exchange for receiving ownership of it. The county is owed about $900,000 in back taxes and the town about $278,000, officials said.

"I’m very optimistic this will be resolved in 30 to 60 days and still expect to take control of the property by the end of the calender year," Heavener said.

The agreement calls for all 440-acres to be in the authority’s hands, although portions will be released for redevelopment as they are deemed clean enough, he said.

At first, about 46 acres, including the front building, the parking lot across Kendrick Lane and 35 acres at Ed Stump Park, will be released, he said.

Although count officials said they believe the bankruptcy court judge will issue a continuance today, Kuhn said EPA lawyers believe he will instead approve the land transfer to the authority, even though all of the documents haven’t been completed.

"Our attorneys believe the judge (today) will approve the transfer of the land. Our attorneys didn’t think everything had to be completed," he said.