A city committee is likely to recommend that four city-owned properties in James Madison Park be sold to generate money for the improvement of the park.

Members of the James Madison Park Property Planning Committee were in general agreement Wednesday that the homes at 640, 646 and 702 E. Gorham St. — more commonly known as the Worden, Ziegelman and Collins homes, respectively — be sold and the land under them leased on a long-term basis.

In addition, the city would sell the land under the former Lincoln School at 720 E. Gorham, most likely to the building's owner, Urban Land Interests, which long ago converted the building to apartments but could consider converting them into condominiums.

Committee members agreed that preference would be given to potential buyers who wanted to live in the Worden and Ziegelman homes, but for the Collins home, a former inn, preference would be given to a buyer that would maintain it as a business or some other public use.