Conneaut Lake Park to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

[TTD03]

Unfortunate news today as Conneaut Park in Pennsylvania has hired at least one attorney to aid them in filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The reason for the filing is because the park owes over $910,000 in overdue taxes. Other options for the park included a forced Sheriff's Sale, but it seems that Conneaut Park has not decided to go with that option, especially since they are filing for Chapter 11.

This is very sad to hear, but hopefully, like Six Flags, operations of the park do not halt during this process. What are your thoughts?

[Oscar]

CONNEAUT LAKE -- The state Attorney General's Office is asking the court to stop the scheduled sheriff sale of Conneaut Lake Park.

A petition filed Wednesday in Crawford County Common Pleas Court said the park is a charitable trust set aside for public use and as such cannot be sold at sheriff sale.

The petition also argues that, as a charitable trust, the park should be tax exempt and that the sheriff sale should be stopped until it's determined whether the park was properly assessed or if tax liens against it should be void.

State attorneys also claim that legal action by local taxing bodies to sell the park at sheriff sale was incorrectly filed in Common Pleas Court when the park, as a charitable trust, is under the jurisdiction of the Orphans' Court of Crawford County.

Finally, if any sheriff sale is held, the attorney general's petition asks the court to notify would-be buyers that the park is public land and must remain in public use.

Conneaut Lake Park is scheduled to be sold at sheriff sale Nov. 7 to recoup $927,812.95 in back taxes owed to Crawford County, Conneaut School District and Summit and Summerhill townships. William L. Walker, attorney for Summit Township, filed a writ of execution seeking the sheriff sale on behalf of all four taxing bodies Sept. 10.

"The most immediate concern we have is the Nov. 7 scheduled sale. It's a pretty serious action for us; it's Armageddon. It would sell all of our assets. If this action by the attorney general relieves that pressure, it's great," said Mark Turner, executive director of the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County.

The Economic Progress Alliance hopes to work with park trustees to restore and expand the lakeside amusement park as a year-around attraction.

Park trustees, including representatives of the Economic Progress Alliance, were appointed this summer after legal action by the Attorney General's Office to remove former trustees and require them to pay for park "waste and mismanagement," chiefly for not carrying fire insurance on major park assets.

The park ballroom burned down in February 2008. Its Beach Club burned down in August 2013.

Former trustees stepped down as part of a court-approved consent agreement on June 12.

New trustees had hoped that the Attorney General's Office would intervene to stop the sheriff sale, Turner said.

The only other way to stop the sale would be to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the park, and that could cost as much as $250,000, Turner said. Trustees met Tuesday but made no decision on proceeding with the bankruptcy.

A court hearing on the attorney general's petition has not been scheduled.
Source: goerie.com some crappy website that tries to force you to share the news before reading it and then has a bazillion pops up.

Wait so I don't understand... the first article posted by TTD suggested that CL was filing for Chapt 11 Bankruptcy, but the article just posted by Oscar makes it seem as though that never happened. Is there any thing from in between these two stories, or is the assumption to be made that filing for chapter 11 is simply (and ironically) too expensive for the park right now?

[TTD03]

^ Could be.
Not sure why the whole Chapter 11 thing was dropped.
Maybe they just tried to find a loophole instead.