Developers have already expressed interest in bidding on the 1,275 acres on the northeastern edge of town now that Ellman Companies has backed out of developing the state trust land.

Ellman Companies pulled out of the deal in mid-March after missing a $182 million payment to buy the state-owned land.

Today, Mayor Linda Kavanagh said she, Town Manager Grady Miller, Councilman Cecil Yates and her husband, Sen John Kavanagh, met with the land commissioner’s office to request that the land return to the market as a whole piece and not broken up into separate parcels.

“The topography does not lend itself to be parceled out,” said the mayor.

Ellman requested a five-year extension but Kavanagh said the proposal would not be in the best interest of the town.

“We need an increase in population, preferably young families with kids, and the development of this land gives us our best opportunity to fulfill the goal.”

For more details on this story, see the April 13 edition of The Times.