Petaluma sells land to car dealer

One of the last developable parcels of city-owned land will become a dealership on Industrial Avenue.|

One of the last plots of developable, city-owned land was approved for a potential sale to a car dealership this week, prompting the question of how much surplus property the city owns that could be turned into revenue it desperately needs.

The answer, though, is very little.

The Petaluma City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that authorized the sale of a 2.6-acre property at the corner of Old Corona Road and Industrial Avenue to the Foothill Family Motors Group for $1 million.

If the sale goes through without a hitch, the city will receive $150,000 in one-time additional revenue thanks to its 14 percent share of property taxes on that site.

The ownership group is expected to bring a new car dealership to the auto mall area, which – depending on the kind of cars and the number of vehicles sold – could translate into another $100,000 to $500,000 annually in sales tax, city officials said.

The property itself was one of the city’s 10 holdovers from Petaluma’s former redevelopment agency. Before their dissolution statewide in 2012, redevelopment agencies provided $1 billion annually for affordable housing projects, but Gov. Jerry Brown proposed cutting them to help balance the budget, and the State Legislature agreed.

The remaining nine city-owned properties can’t be developed, officials said. Most of them are in the floodway and were purchased to help mitigate flood damage, and three are zoned specifically for public use, providing little value.

“This was the only property that was determined to be developable and not for a public use,” said Economic Development Manager Ingrid Alverde. “Part of that (property management) plan that had to be approved by the state was to sell the property at fair market value and share them among the taxing agencies.”

After that, there is a short list of potential city-owned revenue-generating properties apart from those owned by the former redevelopment agency.

The most popular piece is the fairgrounds located in the center of Petaluma. The Sonoma-Marin Fair district leases the 65-acre property for $1 per year, paying the same price it did when the deal was first struck in 1936.

The current 50-year lease expires in 2023, and negotiating a more lucrative contract that helps reimagine the site has been universally embraced by city officials and candidates seeking local office this November.

Additionally, officials said there is one east Petaluma property the city owns that could eventually generate some revenue.

Approximately four acres of land between Garfield Drive and Ely Boulevard South have been explored by a county agency as a potential site for workforce housing, totaling about 30 units.

The property isn’t on the market, though, and hasn’t been appraised, officials said. That means the potential value of the parcel is unclear, and it would take several years of planning and public hearings before coming to fruition.

So until the fairgrounds negotiations ramp up, the prospective car dealership will remain as the only land-related source of new revenue for the city.

“If the sale comes to fruition I think we’d be adding a good business to our auto mall,” said Alverde.

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.