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Owner offers to buy troubled city lot; council declines sale after cleanup cost debate
Summary
A resident offered to purchase a city lot (Parcel 07740-000) and clean it up, but a motion to sell for $2,500 plus cleanup failed for lack of a second; council members discussed policy that requires property be sold at or near appraised value and how cleanup costs influence sale price.
Resident Van Castle addressed the City of Perry City Council about Parcel 07740-000, a city-owned lot near his daughter’s home that he said is flooded and cluttered with fallen trees and rodents. Castle offered to buy and clean the lot so it would be returned to the tax rolls.
Castle said he had two estimates to clear the parcel — roughly $8,000 and $12,000 — and that the parcel’s property-appraiser value is about $8,500. He told councilors he could not pay the appraised value and then also pay cleanup costs. “If it was cleaned, then you could do something with it,” Castle said; “I’d be willing to put it back on the tax rolls and beautify one more lot in the city.”
Council members debated options including: selling the lot at a reduced cash price with the buyer responsible for cleanup; the city clearing the lot and then selling it; or applying the city’s policy that discounts selling price to reflect cleanup liability. One councilor offered a motion to sell the parcel for $2,500 on condition that the buyer pay to clean it up; another councilor raised the city’s ordinance that property sales should not be for less than property-appraiser value except under the city’s established process.
When the motion for $2,500 plus cleanup was called, it failed for lack of a second. Council members later referenced a policy direction established at a prior meeting that set a minimum sale approach tied to a broker price opinion and allowed up to a 10% reduction for documented issues; staff said the minimum consistent with that policy would be about $6,300. Councilors asked staff to obtain a broker’s price opinion and to provide a more specific, written estimate of cleanup costs and potential sale options.
Castle said he would pursue a magistrate/code-enforcement complaint if the city did not act, citing concerns about rodents and danger to his daughter. Several council members noted the city’s existing code-enforcement and property-sale policies and asked staff to return with a concrete recommendation in writing.
No formal sale was approved; the matter will return to staff for appraisal, a broker opinion and written options for council consideration.
