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Mount Vernon panel weighs title reviews, bidding process as city prioritizes surplus properties
Summary
At a March 27 Mount Vernon Real Estate Committee meeting, consultants and staff outlined a plan to link the city's comprehensive plan to a strategy for leveraging surplus city-owned property, while the law department begins title reviews and staff prepare recommendations on prioritized parcels for the next meeting.
Mount Vernon's Real Estate Committee on March 27 reviewed progress on city-owned properties and directed the law department to complete title reviews before staff returns recommendations on prioritized parcels.
The meeting combined two tracks: (1) consultant advice on packaging surplus city property to advance goals in the city's comprehensive plan and (2) staff and legal work to clear or document titles so the city can responsibly evaluate bids previously submitted through an online process.
Pat Cleary, lead consultant for the comprehensive plan, told the committee that packaging city parcels in requests for proposals or requests for information lets the city "very specifically identify the city's goals and bake those into the requests for developers." He described how other cities attach enforceable milestones to developer agreements so properties are redeveloped on a schedule and the city can reclaim parcels if milestones are missed: "They must file an application within 3 months. They must have site plan approval within a year. They must have a CO within 18 months ... the city holds a mortgage on the property so that the city has ultimate control." The consultant said that approach can leverage developer financing to achieve infrastructure and development goals tied to the comprehensive plan.
Committee members and city counsel discussed the parallel, administrative work required before any sale. The city attorney said the office and staff have been cataloging bids and assembling title-related documents and that, for many MRAM-style foreclosures and long-held parcels, title examination requires digging into original records: "When it comes to MRAM foreclosures, they come back to us because we have a lot of the original documents ... you can't just send it to the title company and say, tell us how good our title is." The attorney added that the city must be able to justify sales below market value by documenting public benefit and process compliance.
Public commenters and bidders raised practical concerns. Glenn Collier, an online bidder, asked whether prospective buyers could gain interior access to listed buildings for inspection; the committee confirmed that the historical process provided only photographs and the appraisals that accompanied the online listings. A member of the public identified as Esther asked about a specific parcel, 331 South Second Avenue, and said she had submitted a bid.
Staff summarized the next steps: (1) the law department will complete title-clearance reviews for prioritized parcels; (2) staff will continue cataloging bids submitted through OpenGov and will prepare recommendations for the committee at the next meeting; and (3) the city will respond to a records request for a listing of all city-owned properties. The committee identified several parcels for near-term legal review and possible recommendation back to the committee, including 224 North Seventh and 52 Mesereau, and noted other properties under review such as 106 Hillside, 529 East Third, and a parcel associated with 230 South Third (which the city is holding for potential municipal use). Committee members also flagged parcels where litigation or threatened legal action has affected public discussion (for example, an attorney's letter regarding 330 Portland) and said those matters will be handled with counsel.
Committee leadership emphasized transparency. The committee chair said that since 2020 the city completed four property transactions (three as part of land disposition/acquisition agreements and one transfer discussed and approved through the committee and city council), and that revenue from one past transaction at McQuestion Parkway was "almost a million dollars" and was deposited to city accounts. The chair also reiterated that the committee used OpenGov to collect bids after following the process the committee previously adopted and that the appraisals posted with the listings included appraisal dates.
No formal sale decisions were made at the March 27 meeting. The committee approved the minutes from its March 5 meeting and then adjourned; staff and counsel will return with opinions and recommendations on prioritized parcels at the next meeting.
