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Lafayette authorizes listing of Campana property with easement conditions
Summary
The council authorized the city manager to list the Campana property for $3.8 million and directed staff to negotiate potential public easements for creek access and a northern connection; vote was unanimous.
The Lafayette City Council on June 9 authorized the city manager to sign a listing agreement and engage a broker to put the Campana property on the market at $3.8 million, while directing staff to protect potential public access through easement language in any sale.
City staff and the council’s subcommittee reported that the city’s earlier, broader vision for a linked downtown parking and open-space plan could not proceed after the city failed to acquire adjacent parcels and state law changes limited certain disposals. Staff recommended marketing the property after receiving outside interest.
City Manager Tracy Robinson said the property had been purchased for city office use with city office funds and clarified that any sale proceeds would return to the city offices fund, not the parking fund.
Why it matters: The Campana site sits behind the downtown plaza and was viewed in earlier plans as a potential node in a plaza overlay that could have created joint parking and public-space connections. With surrounding pieces unavailable, council members said the parcel had become a “stranded asset” and marketing was a pragmatic next step.
Public comments and easement concerns: Longtime CREECS Committee member David Clark urged the council to record a public easement to connect a planned aqueduct/pathway along Happy Valley Creek to Mount Diablo Boulevard and to ensure real-estate listings account for any easement’s effect on price. Clark said the city has discussed an easement from the northern curb cut east to the edge of adjacent private property and asked that the listing specifically disclose the city’s intent to require an easement.
Public Works staff and the city engineer advised that the city could require easements as a sale condition and that the sale need not be delayed while survey work and legal descriptions are completed. Council deliberation added two potential easements to the conversation: one matching the existing flood-control easement along the southern edge to preserve a pathway corridor, and a second from the northern curb cut to the neighboring McNeil property to preserve future trail connections.
The council voted to authorize the city manager to enter into a listing agreement with John Cumberledge and Associates (Cumberledge spelled as in packet) and to include potential easement requirements in sale negotiations. The motion passed unanimously.
Parking and other concerns: Speakers raised questions about the project’s effect on Park Theater parking and on the city’s overall parking supply. Staff noted state law changes have altered parking requirements near major transit and that other downtown parcels that were part of the earlier plaza vision are not available.
What happens next: Staff will execute a listing agreement and continue negotiations; if a buyer is found, the council directed staff to explore and, where necessary, require easement language in the sale to protect the public pathway objectives discussed in earlier committee meetings.
