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The sale by the city of a vacant lot to the owner of an adjacent business turned out to be a “fairly unique situation” for Elgin, the city manager said.
City Council last week approved selling less than an acre behind the Mainstop Grocery / Shell gas station at 511 North Main St. to the store’s owner, Maredia Business Inc., for $70,000.
“This is a fairly unique situation for the city, although it involves a topic that we discuss a lot of times,” said City Manager Thomas Mattis. “This is basically a process by which unused or undeveloped property owned by the city can be conveyed to a neighboring property owner.”
Mattis said the city gets regular requests from people who want to buy land around their homes so they can close off a street or an alley, but the process for making a sale can be costly.
“We’re compelled to get the appropriate market value for that property, and even then it is property that’s typically divided between adjacent property owners on both sides,” Mattis said. “Part of the complication to the system is that it compels the individual trying to acquire the property to pay for a land survey and also a certified appraisal to determine the value.”
The city manager added, “The city doesn’t have the discretion to decide on their own how much we want to sell the property for. Usually those expenses are fairly significant, and that’s where it ends the conversation.”
Mat t i s told council that staff recommended sel l ing the small lot because it has no city improvements or infrastructure on it, and the city has no plans to use the land.
In addition, land in this area can hold significant value — at $70,000 a lot of this size would extrapolate out to more than $367,000 per acre, officials said.
“In the end, staff decided that we didn’t have a particular use for this property. It has created a little bit of a maintenance challenge for us because it is our property to maintain, but we don’t have any facilities or any real use for it,” he said.
Maredia Busines s followed the procedure, acquiring a land survey and appraisal, agreed to pay the full market value on the land and signed a real- estate contract, officials said. Councilman Chuck Swain asked whether Mattis knew what the proper t y would be used for, or if there were any restrictions to its development.
“I know the owners’ plans are to expand their business, to make better access to the car wash and, frankly, t urn thi s proper t y into something a little more usable for them and the public,” Mattis said.
The council member added there was not yet a development agreement in place and the new owners would need to develop one in accordance with city requirements.
“This action tonight is solely about conveying the property,” he said. “It doesn’t make any promises about what they can or can’t do with it.”
