Notification process for offer to purchase city owned property?

[dandy_warhol]

Does your city have a required notification process related to the offer to purchase City-owned property? Our city is interested in establishing such a requirement for individuals who submit offers to purchase city-owned property. As it currently stands if an entity/individual is interested in purchasing a piece of city-owned property all they have to do is complete a form that includes a purchase price. That offer is reviewed by a few city departments and either approved or denied by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and no notice is given to anyone. City Council has received complaints about the lack of notice to abutting property owners and the lack of notice that the property is for sale. How does your community handle this process?

[ursus]

Disposal of City Property rules extend to real estate, as I understand it, in Utah so we're required to make it public which we do through newspaper and a state-run website. No abutting property owner notice that I'm aware of.

The RDA, however, is not bound by those rules and can negotiate privately for real estate deals. Almost all the property we ever want to sell as a city is technically in the ownership of the RDA. The slightly sneaky part being that here (as in almost all of Utah) the RDA is the City Council wearing a different hat. Don't know if that's common all over, but it is the case here.

[DrGrant]

All of our property sales require a City Council resolution for approval. This applies both to cold offers and auctioned property. Nothing specific is published, but usually the newspaper picks up on it when the agenda is published and writes a blurb.

[SW MI Planner]

Does your city have a required notification process related to the offer to purchase City-owned property? Our city is interested in establishing such a requirement for individuals who submit offers to purchase city-owned property. As it currently stands if an entity/individual is interested in purchasing a piece of city-owned property all they have to do is complete a form that includes a purchase price. That offer is reviewed by a few city departments and either approved or denied by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and no notice is given to anyone. City Council has received complaints about the lack of notice to abutting property owners and the lack of notice that the property is for sale. How does your community handle this process?

Our policy is that we have to offer it first to adjacent property owners first. If someone random came in wanting a piece of property, we send the adjacent owners a letter giving them first option (providing they don't owe back taxes and have no outstanding building/property violations. If both adjacent owners want it and are eligible, they split it. If one or the other wants it, they can buy it. If neither, then we can sell it to the third party.

All of our property sales require a City Council resolution for approval.

Same here, once it goes through the process I described above.