WARWICK — The fate of the old Rocky Point amusement park property is once again in limbo as yet another developer backs away from taking ownership of the roughly 83-acre parcel on the city’s eastern shore.

Mayor Scott Avedisian said yesterday that he learned late last week that a development group headed by the Providence-based Leach Family Holdings is not going to purchase the site after spending the past three months examining the property and development options.

In March, Leach Holdings, operating as Rocky Point Partners LLC, was awarded the Rocky Point property for $15.6 million after a federal judge refused developer Nicholas E. Cambio’s request for more time to finalize his purchase of the land.

At the time, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux expressed impatience with Cambio and accepted the recommendation of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which is the court-appointed receiver for the property that has never found a new life since the 19th-century amusement park closed in 1995.

Officials at the Providence office of the SBA were unavailable yesterday and SBA lawyer Thomas E. Carlotta declined comment on the Leach family’s withdrawal from the project. There was no response to a request for comment from the law officer of Peter P.D. Leach.

Avedisian said he did not know why the Leach partnership is dropping out, but the city’s main concern is preserving its right to 41 oceanfront acres that were once part of Rocky Point.

At the end of December, the city was able to put together $4.4 million in federal, state and local money to buy the rights to the shoreline portion of Rocky Point in order to create a park and ensure public access. The agreement that the city reached with the SBA was contingent on the federal agency having a developer for the remaining 83 acres.

Under the terms of the reverter clause, the SBA can exercise an option to reclaim the land and return the money if it decides it needs to do so in order to repackage the park property in order to attract a new buyer.

Avedisian said that the SBA has not exercised that option and the city plans on working with the federal agency in an attempt to keep the oceanfront land and come up with a new agreement. “We want to stay as close as possible to the intent of the original clause,” he said.

Avedisian said it is his understanding that the SBA will continue to try and market the 83 acres and that the city will work to “make sure we are represented not only on the issue of the shoreline land, but also on any issues of public concern that might arise.”

Ever since the Rocky Point amusement park, which once lit up the shoreline with its neon midway and whirling rides, closed in 1995 after going bankrupt, no developer has closed a deal on the property. There have been many close calls — all involving upscale residential condominiums, townhouses, or single-family homes.

When Cambio lost the property to the Leach group in March, he expressed respect for his competitor, but predicted that they would run into problems, as he had.

Yesterday, Cambio said he was notified late last week that the Leach group would not be closing the deal.

“I had three major problems with the property,” Cambio said, citing his past attempt to get sewer permits, easements for storm water runoff and a height restriction that would prevent the city from planting the public portion of the property with trees and shrubs tall enough to block residential owners’ ocean views.

“As unhappy as I was not to be able to go through with the project, the economy has since dropped beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” Cambio said, noting that he doubts the land would now be valued anywhere near the $17.1 million he bid in 2007 “I think the SBA has mismanaged this property,” he said.

Asked whether he would be interested in the property if the SBA goes out for another round of bids, Cambio said, “Never say never.”

“I regard the city highly and would love to work with the officials there,” he said. “But I have to assess market conditions and make sure that a project makes good business sense. “If the SBA wants to be reasonable, I might be interested. If not, then toodleloo.”

bpoliche@projo.com