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Consider adoption of a resolution directing the disposal of, and approving the sale to the City of Suisun City of, two portions of the Lawler House Property (718 Main Street, Suisun City; APN 0032-141-130) comprising approximately 1,367 square feet, pursuant to Health and Safety Code sections 34177(e) and 34181(a)
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Published Notice Required? Yes _X__ No __ _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Solano Consolidated Oversight Board adopt the attached resolution (Attachment A), which directs the Successor Agency to dispose of, and approves the sale to the City of Suisun City (“City”) of, the Sidewalk Access Area (approximately 1,146 square feet) and the Fireplace Plaza (approximately 221 square feet) - together approximately 1,367 square feet - for $5,000, conditioned upon approval and recordation of a lot line adjustment and upon the concurrent closing of the City's sale of the adjacent Courtyard Property to Harbor Square Holdings, LLC. All proceeds will be remitted to the Solano County Auditor-Controller for distribution to the taxing entities.
What this item does not do. The Board is not being asked to direct the disposal of the Lawler House Property as a whole, and the resolution expressly reserves that question. This is the first disposition of any portion of the Property since dissolution. Disposition of the remainder will be presented to the Board as a separate action when a transaction is ready, consistent with the Department of Finance (DOF) direction that a separate oversight board action be submitted for each property.
OVERSIGHT BOARD AUTHORITY
This item is governed by Health and Safety Code sections 34177(e) and 34181(a), not by section 34180. Section 34180 enumerates specific successor agency actions requiring oversight board approval and does not address property disposition; subdivision (j) of that section requires only that documents submitted to the oversight board be submitted simultaneously to the County Administrative Officer, the County Auditor-Controller and DOF.
Section 34177(e) requires successor agencies to “dispose of assets and properties of the former redevelopment agency as directed by the oversight board” and provides that “disposal is to be done expeditiously and in a manner aimed at maximizing value,” with proceeds “transferred to the county auditor-controller for distribution as property tax proceeds under Section 34188.” By its terms, subdivision (e) applies only to successor agencies that have not been issued a finding of completion. The Successor Agency has never received a finding of completion, so section 34177(e) governs directly.
Section 34181(a)(1) directs the oversight board to have the Successor Agency dispose of former redevelopment agency assets. Section 34181(f) requires that actions under subdivision (a) “be approved by resolution of the oversight board at a public meeting after at least 10 days' notice to the public of the specific proposed actions,” and makes those actions subject to DOF review under section 34179.
DOF has already instructed the Successor Agency how to proceed
By letter dated December 31, 2015 (Attachment C), DOF declined to approve the Successor Agency's Long-Range Property Management Plan because no finding of completion had issued, and gave the following direction:
“Without an approved LRPMP, an Agency's real property assets are required to be disposed of pursuant to HSC section 34177(e) and HSC section 34181(a). A separate OB action must be submitted to Finance for each property. Each individual OB action must identify the use or disposition of the property and to the extent the property is to be sold, indicate whether sales proceeds will be remitted to the County Auditor-Controller for distribution to the taxing entities or used to pay enforceable obligations. Further, pursuant to HSC section 34181(a)(1), the OB shall direct the Agency to dispose of properties expeditiously and in a manner aimed at maximizing value.”
The attached resolution is structured to satisfy each element of that direction. It is a separate oversight board action addressed to a single property; it identifies the disposition; it states expressly that sale proceeds will be remitted to the County Auditor-Controller for distribution to the taxing entities and not applied to enforceable obligations; and it directs disposal expeditiously and in a manner aimed at maximizing value.
DISCUSSION:
A. The two properties
The Lawler House Property (718 Main Street; APN 0032-141-130) is an 8,498± square foot parcel - Lot 8 of Suisun Harbor Plaza Unit II (Bk. 67 Maps, p. 72) - improved with a vacant three-story building of approximately 2,882 rentable square feet. The building has been unoccupied since 2021-22 due to water intrusion and mold. The Successor Agency's 2023 appraiser concluded the improvements are a tear-down, with as-is value below as-if-vacant value because of demolition cost.
The Courtyard Property (APN 0032-141-160) is Parcel 4 of the 2006 Parcel Map for the Suisun City Redevelopment Project (Bk. 48 Parcel Maps, p. 18) - an open-air courtyard surrounded on three sides by the Harbor Square building at 700 Main Street. DOF approved its transfer to the City as a governmental purpose asset on July 14, 2017, and the City holds fee title today.
B. Background - the 2017 determination, and why it is not a disposal direction
In February 2017, the predecessor Suisun City Oversight Board adopted Resolution OB 2017-01 (Attachment D), which ratified the transfer of four parcels - including both the Courtyard and the Lawler House - to the City as governmental purpose assets under section 34181(a)(1), and separately directed disposal of three other parcels designated “Future Sale.” The Lawler House was designated Governmental Purpose, not Future Sale.
By letter dated July 14, 2017 (Attachment E), DOF partially approved that resolution. It approved the transfer of the Courtyard and the East and West Kellogg parking lots, and approved the sale of the three Future Sale parcels. It denied the Lawler House transfer on the ground that “the second floor is leased to four small businesses” and the property therefore “does not meet the definition of use for governmental purposes pursuant to HSC Section 34181(a).” DOF then stated that it was “returning it to the board for reconsideration.”
The Successor Agency accepts the 2017 determination and does not renew the governmental purpose request. What it asks the Board to approve is narrower and different: the disposal of two small portions of the Property, for value. This is the first disposition of any part of the Lawler House Property since dissolution.
Section 34181(a)(1) contains two paths: the oversight board may direct that assets be disposed of, or it may instead direct that assets “constructed and used for a governmental purpose” be transferred to the appropriate public jurisdiction. The 2017 denial addressed only the second path. The sale now before the Board proceeds under the first. It is a disposal for value, with proceeds to the taxing entities; it depends upon no finding that the Property or any portion of it was constructed and used for a governmental purpose; and it asks DOF to approve nothing it has previously denied.
The Department's July 14, 2017 letter contains two further directions the Successor Agency has followed here. It stated that successor agencies are “encouraged to obtain appraisals to maximize the property value prior to the disposition of these properties,” and that “agreements related to the sale of properties should be approved by the OB.” Two appraisals are before the Board, and the resolution approves the form of the conveyance documents as well as the transaction.
C. The title defect
On August 19, 2025, the City Council approved a Purchase and Sale Agreement (“PSA”) with Harbor Square Holdings, LLC (“Harbor Square”) for sale of the Courtyard Property for $75,000 (Attachment F). The PSA describes the property conveyed as including a sidewalk area fronting Main Street and a fireplace plaza that have functioned as part of the Courtyard for years.
Title review during escrow disclosed that both areas lie within Lot 8 and are owned by the Successor Agency, not the City. The preliminary title report (Attachment G; Placer Title Order No. P-681137, Update Version 2) confirms that title to Lot 8 is vested in the Successor Agency and title to Parcel 4 is vested in the City. Without conveyance of the Sidewalk Access Area, the Courtyard Property has no fee frontage on any public right-of-way. Escrow has remained open pending resolution.
Two recorded matters bear directly on the Board's findings and are set out here rather than left to inference:
• Exception 8 - the notes to Parcel Map 48 PM 18 state that a 40-foot vehicular access easement “shall be created by separate instrument for the benefit of Parcel 4 and existing Lot 8.” The preliminary report discloses no instrument creating that easement. Staff should confirm before the meeting whether it was ever recorded.
• Exception 10 - an easement for pedestrian access and public utilities was granted to the City by instrument recorded April 3, 2008 (Inst. No. 200800026481), affecting “the Northerly 15 feet of Lot 8.” The Sidewalk Access Area lies entirely within that 15-foot strip.
Exception 10 is significant in two ways. It means the Successor Agency has held only encumbered fee in the Sidewalk Access Area since 2008 - land it cannot develop, enclose, or exclude the public from. And because that easement is held by the City in its governmental capacity rather than appurtenant to Parcel 4, it cannot be assigned to a private purchaser for private benefit. A fee conveyance remains the appropriate remedy, but the Board should understand that what the Successor Agency is parting with is a servient fee interest of limited residual value, not unencumbered developable land.
D. The proposed transaction
On April 7, 2026, the Successor Agency adopted Resolution No. SA 2026-03 (Attachment B), authorizing sale of the two areas to the City for $5,000, with proceeds disbursed to the taxing entities, subject to approval by this Board and DOF. The areas are legally described in Exhibit A to the resolution:
• Sidewalk Access Area - a portion of Lot 8 beginning at its northwest corner, containing 1,146 square feet, more or less.
• Fireplace Plaza Area - a portion of Lot 8 lying immediately south of the Sidewalk Access Area, containing 221 square feet, more or less.
The combined 1,367± square feet is approximately 16 percent of the Lawler House parcel by area, reducing it from 8,498 to 7,131± square feet. The transfer affects no portion of the building or its parking. The two descriptions are contiguous, stacking southward along the west line of Lot 8 from its northwest corner, and both are referenced to Book 67 of Maps, Page 72.
E. Valuation and the “maximizing value” finding
The Board should have the full valuation picture, including the figures that cut against the proposed price.
Garland & Salmon's appraisal of the Courtyard Property in its post-transfer configuration - 6,640 square feet at $100,000, or roughly $15.06 per square foot - would imply approximately $20,587 (Attachment H).
Staff does not believe either figure reflects what the Successor Agency is actually giving up, for three reasons drawn from the record:
• The Sidewalk Access Area is already encumbered. Since 2008, it has been subject to a recorded public pedestrian access and utility easement in the City's favor. Its residual value to the fee owner is a fraction of unencumbered land value.
• The areas are improved as public hardscape and cannot be independently developed. Both are narrow perimeter strips improved with sidewalk and an oversized masonry fireplace. Garland & Salmon characterized the assembled courtyard area as an “uneconomic remnant” with “negligible economic utility” whose “only remaining reasonable use is for assemblage with an adjacent property.”
• Their removal does not reduce the developable yield of the remainder. The 7,131 square foot remainder retains the building footprint, its Main Street frontage and its development potential under the Downtown Waterfront Specific Plan.
The Board should also be aware that the Courtyard Property is City-owned, so the City retains the $75,000 sale price; the $5,000 paid by the City to the Successor Agency is the only component of this transaction that reaches the taxing entities. Under section 34179, the Board’s fiduciary responsibilities run to the taxing entities.
F. Reduces liabilities to the taxing entities
The Successor Agency currently bears maintenance, insurance and security obligations for the Sidewalk Access Area and Fireplace Plaza and receives no revenue from them. The preliminary title report shows that the Lawler House Property is charged $3,010.36 annually in Victorian Harbor Community District assessments for fiscal year 2025-26 ($2,426.98 maintenance and $583.38 dredging), payable by the Successor Agency notwithstanding that the parcel is publicly owned and carries no assessed value. Completing the Courtyard sale places that parcel in private ownership, shifting maintenance and assessment responsibility to the buyer.
G. Increases net revenues to the taxing entities
The $5,000 will be remitted to the Solano County Auditor-Controller for distribution to the taxing entities under section 34188. Consummation of the Courtyard sale returns Parcel 4 to private ownership and to the assessment roll, generating recurring property tax revenue where none is now produced. Most significantly, resolving the title defect removes the principal obstacle to disposing of the Lawler House Property itself.
H. Context - the remainder of the Lawler House Property (not before the Board)
The Lawler House Property has been held by the Successor Agency since dissolution in 2012 and has produced minimal revenue while accruing carrying costs and deferred maintenance liability. The Successor Agency is presently in negotiations for sale of the entire remainder to a private party and anticipates bringing that transaction to this Board as a separate item within approximately six months, with all proceeds distributed to the taxing entities. That disposition is not before the Board today and is not approved by the attached resolution. It is described here because it explains why resolving this title defect matters now: the action recommended today clears an encumbrance that would otherwise complicate the sale of the remainder, and it advances the wind-down of an asset the Successor Agency has carried since dissolution.
I. The recorded affordability covenant
A Deed Restriction required by Government Code section 54233 was recorded against the Lawler House Property on April 12, 2023 (Inst. No. 2023-00015112) and appears as Exception 12 of the preliminary title report, affecting Lot 8 (Attachment I). It requires that if ten or more residential units are developed on the property, not less than 15 percent be affordable to lower income households.
Because that restriction runs with the land, it already burdens the Sidewalk Access Area and Fireplace Plaza and will continue to burden them after conveyance, without further action.
J. Lot line adjustment
Conveyance of portions of Lot 8 and their merger into Parcel 4 requires a lot line adjustment under Government Code section 66412(d) and the City's subdivision ordinance. No application has yet been filed. The resolution therefore approves the transaction and conditions closing on approval and recordation of the lot line adjustment, so that the Board's action does not depend on an approval that does not yet exist.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed action has been reviewed under the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code § 21000 et seq.) and the State CEQA Guidelines (14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15000 et seq.). The action approves a conveyance of real property and an associated lot line adjustment. It approves no development, no construction and no change in land use. It can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility the action may have a significant effect on the environment, and it is therefore exempt under Guidelines section 15061(b)(3). In the alternative and independently, the action is categorically exempt under Guidelines section 15305 (Class 5, minor alterations in land use limitations not resulting in changes in land use or density) and section 15312 (Class 12, sales of surplus government property). Staff will file a Notice of Exemption with the Solano County Clerk following approval, pursuant to Guidelines section 15062.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Successor Agency will receive $5,000, payable at closing. Those proceeds will be remitted to the Solano County Auditor-Controller for distribution to the taxing entities as property tax proceeds under Health and Safety Code section 34188. No proceeds will be applied to enforceable obligations or to Successor Agency administrative costs. The Successor Agency will be relieved of maintenance and assessment obligations attributable to the transferred areas. There is no cost to the County or to the Oversight Board.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Decline to approve. The Courtyard Property would remain without fee frontage on a public right-of-way, the Harbor Square escrow could not close, the Successor Agency would continue to bear maintenance and assessment costs without compensation, and the title defect would remain to complicate the pending disposition of the Lawler House remainder.
2. Continue the item. Because the Solano Consolidated Oversight Board meets in January, May and September, a continuance would defer this matter to January 2027 and would extend the Harbor Square escrow by approximately four additional months.
PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS AND DOF REVIEW
Because this is an action under section 34181(a), section 34181(f) requires not less than 10 days' public notice of the specific proposed action. Notice will be published in the Daily Republic and posted on the Successor Agency's website in the form approved by Resolution SA 2026-03, as redated for the September 10, 2026 meeting. (Attachment J) The agenda will also be posted not less than 72 hours in advance under the Ralph M. Brown Act (Gov. Code § 54954.2; Health & Safety Code § 34179(e)).
Under section 34180(j), this submittal is being provided concurrently to the Solano County Administrative Officer, the Solano County Auditor-Controller and DOF. Following adoption, the Board's designated official will transmit the resolution to DOF electronically pursuant to section 34179(h).
Timing. The Board's action will not be effective for three business days pending a request for review by DOF. If DOF requests review, it has 40 days from the date of the request to approve the action or return it for reconsideration, and section 34181(f) permits DOF to extend that period by up to 60 days. If DOF does not object and no action challenging the approval is commenced within 60 days, the Board's action becomes final and may be relied upon as conclusive. The parties should plan for a review period that may extend well beyond 40 days.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
On April 7, 2026, the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Suisun City considered the proposed transfer of a portion of 718 Main Street commonly referred to the Lawler House parcel to the City of Suisun City at a public meeting and adopted Resolution No. SA 2026-03 by a vote of 4-0, with one Council Member being absent and approving the transfer of a Sidewalk Access Area and the Fireplace Plaza of 718 Main Street to the City, subject to approval by the Oversight Board and completion of any review by the Department of Finance.
Pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 34180(j), this staff report and all accompanying documents have been submitted to the Solano County Administrative Officer, the Solano County Auditor-Controller, and the California Department of Finance concurrently with their submission to the Oversight Board.