Elk Grove to Lease Recently Purchased $4 Million Grant Line Property For $2,500

November 11, 2014 | If approved at tomorrow night's regular city council meeting, Elk Grove will be leasing the property it r...


November 11, 2014 |

If approved at tomorrow night's regular city council meeting, Elk Grove will be leasing the property it recently purchased for $4 million for a hay growing operation.

According to the staff report, Elk Grove's real property manager Julie Cline is recommending the city enter an eight-month lease with Mahon Ranch for $2,500. Mahon plans to plant a winter hay crop for the 99-acre site.

The proposed contract will start on November 14 and be in effect until July 31, 2015. The lease rate, according to the report, is based on fair market rates for non-irrigated farmland. 

The contract requires Mahon to maintain the property during the term of the lease and will absolve the city with the cost of weed abatement.

The city entered into a sales agreement for the property, which lies outside of city limits, in September and did not specify what its use would be. However, when the city hosted a Major League Soccer (MLS) delegation in September, the property was touted as a possible site for an expansion franchise soccer stadium.

At the time MLS said it would make a decision in early December which city in the running for an expansion franchise, which includes Elk Grove, would be granted the new club. Subsequent to that, the MLS announced last week that its decision will not be made 2015 at the earliest.

Elk Grove's long-awaited athletic complex is tied to the MLS bid, which Mayor Gary Davis has insisted is still in the hunt for the expansion franchise. Unless the city withdraws its interest in the expansion franchise, any plans for the site are frozen until the MLS announces which city is the winner.

Complicating matters for the city is the recent decision by Roseville to build a competing athletic complex that it hopes to draw regional and national tournaments. Roseville's facility is being build in cooperation with neighboring city's Lincoln, Rocklin and the Placer Valley Sports Complex and Tourism Marketing District and is being funded by a transient room tax.

Roseville, which is home to the popular Westfield Galleria shopping mall as well as numerous breweries, wineries and entertainment venues attractive visiting athletes and their families, is believed to have established a substantial lead over Elk Grove's efforts, should they ever launch.    










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9 comments

David W said...

If my math is right, and please feel free to check it, it will take 860 years to repay the $4.3 million used to purchase this land if the farmers can get two harvests a year from it.

I really can't believe the city paid that kind of money for this land when we don't have adequate $$ reserves and an iron-clad commitment from MLS.

Such poor financial acumen. The city looks so foolish.

Anonymous said...

Aren't the Mahons staunch backers of the SOI? And now a sweetheart deal to grow hay on taxpayer's property. How much money will be made on the sale of the hay?

Is this another back door deal?

Warren Buffet said...

" Irrigated pasture and hayfields consume more water than any other single crop in California - more than a third of all irrigation water. Together, alfalfa and hay and pasturage account for approximately half of all water used in the state (http://www.publiclandsranching.org/htmlres/wr_guzzling_water.htm).

Anonymous said...

I really have tried to understand this deal and for the life of me I just don't get it. Just two (2) weeks after the close of escrow on this property and this is the best use of it we can think of?

Anonymous said...

.



"Roseville, which is home to the popular Westfield Galleria shopping mall as well as numerous breweries, wineries and entertainment venues"


Elk Grove is home to high density low income housing projects, nail salons, gun stores, fast food joints, strip malls, pot houses, is sister city to the kingdom of Zumunda..... and drum roll please..... has South Sacramento as its northerly neighbor.


.

Anonymous said...

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get"

-Warren Buffet-

Anonymous said...

Typical EGN readers... just making hay. ;)

Naomi said...

So, Anon 20:36, these comments are typical, but are they inaccurate?

Do you think purchasing this land for $4.3 million, was good business?

If so, what about then leasing it to the farmers for $2,500 a harvest, is that good business?

Typical comments, perhaps, typical business practices that will lead us into bankruptcy?

Let's hope not.

If it happens know who to blame: Mayor Davis, Councilmen, Trigg, Detrick, Hume and Cooper, along with city manager, Laura Gill.

Anonymous said...

Naomi...
Anon 20:36 is using humor. Obviously, you don't understand the double entendre.

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