ASTORIA SURPLUS PROPERTY SALES

The City of Astoria has begun the process of surplus property sales.  City officials say 150 parcels are targeted for sale in the next year.  Hundreds of properties could eventually be sold, adding to the tax base and generating revenue.  Astoria real estate firm Area Properties is representing the city in the sales.  So far offers have been made on several properties.  But as citizens and adjacent property owners become aware of the sales, concerns are being raised.  As City Manager Paul Benoit told the council, complaints from adjacent property owners have resulted in changes to the sales process. 

 

Benoit: “One example is when we did the first advertisement to adjacent property owners there was a lot of concern because the letter that went out gave what citizens felt to be a very short response time.  We acknowledged it was a short response time and we’re working to expand that.  I think all the property owners in the first round have been notified they have more time, and if the council continues with this process we’ll send a letter out that again, you can review before we sent it out, but it will give several weeks for people to respond.” 

Astoria resident Bob Goldberg spoke up to ask how properties came to be included in the initial sales list, how to find out about land sales as they occur  and what the City will do with proceeds of the sales. 

City employee Mike Morgan stated the city crossed checked the inventory of buildable lands with a coded list of city owned properties that could potentially be sold to come up with the initial list of 36 properties out of a potential 1300.   

City manager Paul Benoit addressed the disposition of sales proceeds:

Benoit: “ So, where the funds go.  In the past all sale of city property and the funds derived from those sales go into the capital improvement fund because they’re one-time-money.  You can only sell property once so historically we have never used those funds for operations.  They go into the capital improvement fund and its used to replace capital equipment, police cars, fire equipment, computer systems, that sort of thing.  Now that’s city council policy.  The city council can change that….if we go forward with this process I think what we can do and should do is we can put a link on our website, because I know it will be on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) or Area Properties will have something, but we can also create a page on our website you could go to and see what properties are being offered and which ones have offers on them.” 

Astoria resident Bernard Wood questioned the inclusion of geologically unstable properties in the sales lists.  Planner Mike Morgan used a mapped parcel as an illustration.

Morgan: “The red area is a mapped slide that encroaches into this city property.  We will not, if the council approves, the slide portion of this entire city block, will not be sold.  The proposal is that the adjacent owners that have made the offer on the property would like to buy the rest of the parcel to protect their view, and that’s the sort of thing we’re doing with any property that has a potential slide in the vicinity.  Like I was telling Bob, the area at the end of Irving has, if you go up the end of Irving, and you look down – it’s a large drainage, that’s a slide area.  That could not be sold under the criteria.” 

Astoria resident Cindi Price suggested adding online lists or maps of city-owned properties and the buildable lot inventory.  She asked if forested lands could receive additional consideration in the process.  

In concluding discussion on the property sales, several council members expressed reservations on the process as it is.  In order to address concerns from the public and council members City Manager Benoit said the next step city staff will take will be to generate a single map of city-owned properties included in the buildable lands inventory and present it to the council at a later meeting.