Port of South Whidbey commissioners decided Wednesday that a small parking lot in Langley was not worth a previously agreed-upon asking price.

Instead, the board agreed to make a counter offer of $100,000, a number based on a professional valuation. The offer will also be contingent on the positive results of a sub-surface soil analysis that will determine if the property is contaminated with fuel or oil. The study is estimated to cost about $9,000, port officials said.

Port commissioners were hopeful the offer and study would prove the property to be a better deal than it’s shaped up to be.

“It’s been encumbered from the beginning,” said Commissioner Ed Halloran, president of the board.

In June, the board approved a deal worth $170,000 for the small lot at the bottom of Wharf Street for additional marina parking. A Record story, however, revealed the property had an easement that hindered the number of available spaces. The story also showed that the county’s assessed value of the property in 2015 was just $51,000.

A valuation built into the deal later placed a value of between $100,000 and $120,000. An environmental review also recommended that the port conduct an additional subsurface study due to the property’s proximity to a former gas station.