New policies approved--

Council OK'd policy to consider transfer of right-of-ways

Zack Cinek

Jan 31, 2023

Monday, January 31, 2023

Post meeting brief: City council
Nature: The power of old oak trees.

City gov’t | Post meeting report

Here’s your briefing on the last city council meeting.

Willits City Council January 25, 2023

Council members approved a new ordinance that paved the way for property owners to now petition the city to let go of right-of-ways or fragments of city property.

In some cases the city has a right-of-way yet it does not own ground crossed by an alley, for example.

“It is amazing, when you start going through surveys, lots, plat maps, you will see a lot of remnant parcels that the city owns,” City Manager Brian Bender said.

For example, a property owner adjoining a remnant parcel can now make a move to obtain the remnant parcel from the city.

“They can use it for development, they can just make their lots larger,” said Bender.

The city used the services of Scott Perkins, SHN Consulting, to help in the process of creating the ordinance.

It was noted at one point that the city can initiate an abandonment.

Or as an extreme possibility, a property owner could use the process as a form of eminent domain in reverse.

Willits is unusual , City Attorney James Lance said.

“However,” Lance said, “in doing some past research years ago, in some original plots of Willitsville, some old, old neighborhoods, there were some easements that were legally described property of the city which is really odd and unusual because the typical thing, at least in modern times, is that property owners are subject to an easement upon their property.”

If you are wondering who would like to use this new process, Nick Casagrande of NC Financial Group is interested.

Owner of an old Willits home, Casagrande told the council that he has extinguished three fires in an alleyway near the Chevron gas station.

“The homeowners actually pay property taxes for the property that they cannot use because of the easement,” said Casagrande.

What does Casagrande think the city should be doing? Eliminating risk, Casagrande said.

“From an investor standpoint, I say to the city, cut your liabilities,” Casagrande said. “Eliminate as many liabilities as you can and put the burden back onto the homeowner.”

Casagrande is the name behind NC Financial Group.

“We can then spend our time and money and resources taking the city to the next level,” said Casagrande.

Casagrande ran beyond a three minute limit on public comment and was asked to stop.

Before closing, he did mention that he has personally brought investors to see our community.

The city prepared a proclamation in honor of 114-year-old Edith Ceccarelli who has a birthday to celebrate February 5.

You may wonder who could attend Edie’s birthday party?

City Manager Brian Bender said he contacted the “congressional delegation” and forwarded them a copy of the city’s proclamation.

“Hopefully they can do something on their end,” said Bender, “maybe the governor’s office can have some kind of presence at the Feb. 5 event.”

Willits will have to wait and see!

An item of interest was the council’s approval of a new COVID-19 plan.

The plan passed 5-0 and established groundwork for how the city handles COVID-19 from within the organization.

Nature

For a weathered oak tree to have died standing it must be an old tree by today's standards.

Pause for a moment and consider if you know oak or fir who was rooted even 200 years past.

That’s the end. Your brief on what happened at a recent goal-setting meeting is in the next edition. Notably, some changes were proposed that included increasing the city’s reservoir water supply with an inflatable extension to the dam.

NEWSBOY

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