(October 5)  NEEDLES—The Needles City Council has waived a host of the restrictions it normally applies to selling city-owned property in listing for sale more than 280 acres of what it now considers surplus municipal land.
In recent months, the city proceeded with the sale of five parcels totaling 1.81 acres, including a one acre parcel near the rodeo grounds, netting $40,510.05 for those combined properties. The council on September 11 resolved to put a significant amount of the land it owns on the market. In doing so, the council approved waiving requirements it has traditionally adhered to in selling property. Those included obtaining a real estate appraisal prior to the sale, prohibiting the sale of property smaller than an acre and requiring a developer agreement and master plan on larger properties prior to the sale.
The city will now allow the properties to be sold on the basis of a broker’s opinion of the value instead of a real estate appraisal.
Georgia Breault, a member of the city’s property sale committee, and council member Terry Campbell said that maintaining the prior requirements for the sales would likely discourage buyers from purchasing the properties. Breault said the sales would have a short and medium term benefit to the city in the form of revenue from the sales and property tax income.
The city had waived those requirements in  selling the five parcels totaling 1.81 acres.
The properties being listed inclued 3.54 acres at 3509 Needles Highway; 0.37 acres on Route 66 near the wrecking yard; 20.39 acres off Bailey; 24.88 acres at the intersection of Lillyhill and Parkway; 6.01 landlocked acres accessible via Casa Luna; 1.22 acres off east Broadway, across from Harris Motors; 37.14 of wilderness acreage 5,000 feet from Peru and Lillyhill; 5 acres on Bailey near the senior citizens center and the hospital; 17 acres on Lillyhill behind the senior citizens center and the hospital; 20 acres at the southwest corner of Lillyhill and Parkway; 16.97 acres at the end of J Street; 37.33 acres on Eagle Pass Road past the San Bernardino County flood control property; 39.9 acres on Needles Highway outside the city limits; 20 acres at the end of Crestview below the Travelers Inn; 0.68 acres at 511 W. Broadway; 8.42 acres at 228 Safari Drive; 2.53 acres on the north side of the intersection of Clary and San Clemente, across from the water tank; and 22.87 acres at the end of J Street.
In the previous sales, the city used two of the four brokers based in Needles, and will seek to involve all four brokers in future sales.