Real Estate and Right of Way Property

All City property acquisition is coordinated by city real estate staff within the Urban Development Department. This includes the acquisition of Public Right of Way property (ROW) and easements(PDF, 79KB) for public infrastructure projects such as streets and sewers and the purchase of property for City redevelopment projects upon approval by City Council. Currently, all purchases for redevelopment purposes must be from willing sellers and no eminent domain procedures will be undertaken.

Whatever the purpose of an acquisition, the City follows a Land Acquisition Policy(PDF, 321KB) and provides relocation assistance(PDF, 1014KB) to any residents or businesses displaced as a result of the purchase. 

The Real Estate staff also oversees sales of surplus City property. Only property that has been declared surplus or vacated public right-of-way (ROW) may be sold. Both declaring a property to be surplus and vacating public ROW involve complex processes, but staff can be a resource.