City Real Property Disposition Policy

At a glance

Based on uploaded (human-made) captions.

What: how the city declares property surplus and sells it, governed by Administrative Rule 1302 (in place since 2015), and whether Council should change it.
Where it stands: committee chairs agreed to route land disposition items to the City Life Committee; document 2026-361 was a first briefing with no action. Staff made minor updates to the rule last year that are awaiting the bureau director. A fourth category is proposed for small partial takes by regional transportation partners.
Contested: Councilor Ryan wants a more radical reform for the new form of government; Council President Dunphy and Councilor Pirtle-Guiney want selling to be a last resort and favor land banking, pocket parks and longer-term thinking.
Next: Dunphy wants to work on the policy next year; two more transportation bureau parcels come to the committee October 27.

Category 1 (remnant, landlocked or deed-restricted parcels) and Category 2 (Housing Bureau properties) get an internal review only.
Category 3 (everything else) adds a 60-day public notice, then Council surplus designation and authorization to sell on the open market.
The city real property coordinator, Pauline Goebel, helps bureaus; David McEldowney and Tanya Wolfersberger presented case studies.

Sold properties carry no use conditions, so a former water tower on Hayden Island sits vacant and attracts crime (Ryan); staff said conditions or a request for proposals could be considered.
Common drivers (no longer serving its purpose, attractive nuisance, costly improvements) may reflect short-term thinking and risk losing land the city will need in 20 to 30 years (Pirtle-Guiney).
Related: Menlo Park Water Tower Site Conveyance was the committee's first live example.

About 38 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-13 - City Life Committee	38

2026-10-13 - City Life Committee - Staff briefed the committee on Administrative Rule 1302 with two case studies; Ryan, Dunphy and Pirtle-Guiney called for reform and a land bank approach. No vote.