Cape Coral City Council had directed staff to examine the city\u2019s parcel surplus inventory to see what is not needed.<\/p>\n
Dawn Andrews, with the city\u2019s Real Estate Division, said a list was provided to council in December of last year of what properties the city can surplus. There is still some more vetting to be done with the residential properties, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the residential properties could be used for lift stations in the future. We don\u2019t know where the lift stations are going to need to go. We can save the property as a swap for the person that doesn\u2019t want to sell the property,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some on council said last week that if the city has a have surplus, it needs to be sold.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have property that is surplus, if we don\u2019t have a need for it, and we have it, we need to sell it,\u201d Mayor John Gunter said. \u201cWe can use the monies for something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said although it is one-time money, the city could use these funds for one of the three fire stations that need to be built.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Rachel Kaduk said the list they received was $6.1 million in surplus properties. She said she did not think selling it in a down market was a good idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to produce some cash in the near future,\u201d Councilmember Joe Kilraine said.<\/p>\n
Gunter said previous surplus property discussions directed staff to get some appraisals for the properties identified.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is before we can move forward, these properties have to come back as an ordinance or resolution listed as surplus properties,\u201d Gunter said.<\/p>\n
City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn recommended they have an economic development plan to establish a land bank \u2014 discussions about strategic acquisitions for certain properties. He said if the city does offload them there is a use at the end \u2014 putting it in the land reserve, so they can then indirectly do a property swap through a sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith yesterday\u2019s news, we really don\u2019t know what we are going to utilize these monies for,\u201d Gunter said. \u201cIt\u2019s one-time funding that we can use down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financial Services Director Crystal Feast said currently the city has a land surplus reserve \u2014 a restrictive fund.<\/p>\n
The council agreed to have staff look at the properties that the city owns and identify the purpose.<\/p>\n