By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights City Council voted 4-1 on Wednesday to approve the purchase of vacant land on Sylvan Road owned by Bayside Covenant Church of Citrus Heights, otherwise known as Heights Church.
During the Aug. 14 City Council meeting, a purchase agreement between the city and Heights Church for a parcel of land measuring between 76,000 and 80,000 square feet at 6498 Sylvan Rd., was presented to the City Council for approval. The acquisition terms for the parcel were previously negotiated at a closed session during a July 10 council meeting. The purchase was approved by the council, with Vice Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa voting against the purchase.
“We don’t need it, and I think our money is better spent somewhere else,” Karpinski-Costa said. Neither the city manager nor any other council members commented on the purchase agreement.
According to the city, a purchase price of $2.16 per square foot was negotiated. During the escrow period, the city will initiate a lot line adjustment consisting of 76,590± square feet, not to exceed 80,000 square feet. The purchase price is estimated to be a little over $165,000, but the final purchase price will be determined by the final lot line adjustment.
The city was approached by Heights Church regarding the prospect of selling a portion of the church property to the city. According to the church, the land is vacant and currently unoccupied, and a creek runs through the land.
“Part of the land is a flood plain. It’s not usable for us,” Heights Church Lead Pastor Craig Sweeney told The Sentinel on Wednesday in a phone call. Sweeney said that two additional pieces of land adjacent to the one under consideration were sold to Robert Coronado in the past. Coronado then gifted the two parcels to the city last year, according to the city.
“It’s a help to us because it gives us much-needed dollars, and it’s also a help to the city to be able to expand that land,” Sweeney said.
The land previously donated by Coronado was conditioned on the city using the land for a “park, open space, community garden, or the like.”
Citrus Heights City Manager Ash Feeney said in an email to The Sentinel that there are “no current plans” for the latest land acquisition, but noted that the property has utility service connections and is “a developable area that, when combined with the adjacent city property, provides for a strategic acquisition opportunity for future community-serving uses.”
The city will utilize General Funds for the purchase of the property.
