May 19, 1999|By Laura Sullivan and Matthew Mosk | Laura Sullivan and Matthew Mosk,SUN STAFF
One of Winer's companies, Academy Junction, owns the shopping plaza and office building worth almost $1.5 million across the street from the proposed library site. Down the road on Route 175, Winmark Limited Partnership owns two shopping complexes worth $4.3 million. State records show Winer is a general partner in Winmark.
Academy Crossing, a company using the same address as his real estate office, owns almost three acres of land worth more than $300,000 next door to the real estate firm and several hundred yards from the county's newly acquired property.
Ultimately, the county's decision to buy the parcel at the center of Odenton can only serve to benefit Winer, said Thomas Burke, the county official in charge of land acquisitions.
"I don't think any private developer could do for this land what the county could," Burke said. "Getting this property cleaned up and developed will be very beneficial for all the neighbors."
That being the case, Fox said he can see how others might view Winer's dual roles as a problem.
"I thought this might come up because he's got signs all over the place out there," Fox said. "I can sense how there might be the perception of a conflict."
Bill Burlison, the councilman who represents Odenton, said he doesn't know if the land deal was proper or not. But he fears that Odenton residents will end up no better off than they were before.
Pub Date: 5/19/99
