Neighbors hoping to sell their homes on Charles Street and Mathilda Avenue are going to have to wait now that the city will not be making the adjacent properties surplus.
The owners of four parcels located in the middle of six city-owned parcels were hoping the city would subsequently sell the aging homes, so they could sell their parcels to Toll Brothers, which wants to build a mixed-use development on that block.
The Sunnyvale City Council voted Nov. 11 not to make surplus the residential properties and vacant lots on the block bordered by Mathilda, Iowa, and McKinley avenues and Charles Street.
Instead, council members voiced interest in aggregating more parcels on what is known as Block 15 in the Downtown Specific Plan to sell a more contiguous piece of land.
The decision came four weeks after the council tabled the discussion. The council also held a closed session on Nov. 11 to discuss the potential purchase of properties located at 396 and 402 Charles St. and 397 and 403 Mathilda Ave.
When the city makes land surplus to sell, the property is first offered to public entities such as affordable-housing agencies and school districts within the property’s jurisdiction. If no buyer emerges, then the city can put in a request for bids that could come from public or private agencies.
It is also city policy that proceeds from the sale of surplus property be used to acquire open space land.
Over several years, the city purchased these properties with the goal of assembling land to kick-start the redevelopment of the low-density commercial and residential uses to higher-density, multi-family/commercial mixed use, per the Downtown Specific Plan for the area.
The six city-owned parcels are composed of three single-family homes located on Charles Street and one duplex and two vacant parcels fronting Mathilda Avenue.
An active real estate market is what spurred the discussion about declaring the properties as surplus. According to city staff, the combined value of the six properties in Block 15 is estimated at $3.5 million.
“I think that we should take a position that we should be an aggregator and then proceed in closed session negotiations with Toll Brothers,” Councilman Glenn Hendricks moved.
Mayor Jim Griffith seconded, as Toll Brothers is the entity that has the current rights to purchase the property.
Councilman Dave Whittum asked whether the motion should state the other party in the closed session, and it was subsequently changed to state a closed session with “the appropriate party.”
The final vote was 5-2, with Councilman Pat Meyering and Vice Mayor Jim Davis dissenting.
Meyering suggested holding a public hearing about whether Sunnyvale should be an aggregator, but it failed.
