Authorization to Transfer Land at 138-140 Franklin Street for a nominal fee. Authorizing the disposal of 350 square feet of City land located on a portion of 138-140 Franklin Street in Melrose for a nominal fee for the reasons provided in the Notice of Decision (ID# 12985)

Transcript (~7 min @ 27:44)

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▶ 27:43 Mark Garipay: That, that, uh, appropriation will be recommended. Next up, we have, uh, two, two more orders. We have ID 1, 2, 9, 8 5 authorizing the disposal of 350 square feet of city land, located on a portion of 1 38 dash one 40 Franklin Street in Melrose for a nominal fee for the reasons provided in the notice of decision that, uh, information was all in the packet. Um, so I will hand hand this over to City Solicitor Phillips.

▶ 28:15 Speaker 3: Great. Good evening. Thank you for all having me. Uh, before you tonight, just to, to discuss the next two orders that are on the agenda. Um, in short, these next two orders are looking to correct a title issue, uh, for the property owners at 1 38 1 40 Franklin Street in Melrose. That's actually existed since 1939. Um, it was brought to my attention this summer by the, uh, the newest owners to of that property. So in 1939, as part of relo relocating Albion Street in Melrose, the board of Alderman at the time voted to actually authorize the transfer of the city land, which is 350 square feet that actually sits in the front yard of 1 38, 1 40 Franklin Street. Um, and they authorized the transfer to Melrose Co-Op Bank, who was the owner at the time. After that vote, though, there was never a deed that was signed, never a deed that was recorded, um, by the mayor at that time. So legally title never validly transferred. Um, the Melrose Cooperative Bank did develop a plan of land that was used to then transfer the property multiple times. However, because Title never validly transferred, that small portion still actually is titled to the City of Melrose. So I'm before you tonight looking to correct that. Um, at the request of the property owners, um, to correct the title issue and transfer a title of this three 50 square feet of city land to the current orders requires two votes of city council, which is why there's two orders on the agenda tonight. So I'll talk first about the first order. So that's 1 2 9 8 5. Um, so that is the request to dispose of it for a nominal fee for the reasons provided in the draft notice of decision. So this order is requesting a vote of, um, city council, um, relative to the disposal of the land for a nominal fee. So the city assessor has valued it at $6,200. Um, this three 50 square foot portion, uh, to the best of her ability based on land tables from fiscal 25. Um, pursuant to chapter 30 B, if the city council wishes to transfer land at a price less than its current value, it has to publish a notice of decision in the central registrar, which is what I've drafted, uh, for council's consideration tonight, explaining the reasons and disclosing the difference between the value of the land and the price that you're looking to dispose it for. Because of the uniqueness of the situation and the fact that the property owners have been paying property tax, um, that's included, that 350 square feet, um, that's actually was titled to the city, but they've been paying property tax on that for 80 plus years. Um, and for all intents and purposes, it was this property's, uh, property not in use at all by the city of Melrose. Um, I suggest counsel, um, transport for a nominal fee of $10, which is just a standard nominal fee use in real estate transactions so that there's consideration for the transaction to take place. So I've drafted a proposed notice of decision with that reasoning, um, that if you vote in the affirmative on 1 2 9 8 5, you would be authorizing, um, the transfer of the land for the nominal fee of $10 pursuant to the reasons provided in the notice of decision. And if there's an affirmative vote, um, we would go ahead and publish that notice of decision in the central registrar. Would you like me to go on to the next one? Uh,

▶ 31:17 Mark Garipay: Why don't we take questions on the first one. Okay. And, uh, dispose of that. Uh, any questions on 1, 2 9 5? Council commiss?

▶ 31:28 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, less of a question, but just wanna say thank you for taking something that happened in 1939 and seeing it through it just makes things so much easier for everyone, so I appreciate the effort. Absolutely. Thank you. Anyone else?

▶ 31:45 Speaker 5: So I'll make, um,

▶ 31:50 Maya Jamaleddine: Uh, just a quick question. Uh, out of curiosity, why did we like $10? Why is it $10 and

▶ 31:58 Speaker 3: It's just a standard nominal fee? So sometimes we use $1. Uh, the seller had proposed $10, $10 is just a standard placeholder, nominal fee because you need to have some amount of money. Mm-hmm. In order for the, um, contract or the deed to be validly executed, there has to be some consideration. So we just chose the number 10, um, as a nominal fee. It's just frequently used in real estate transactions.

▶ 32:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And, and this was decided by the city or by the,

▶ 32:24 Speaker 3: It was proposed by the current owners. Okay. With the

▶ 32:27 Maya Jamaleddine: Deed. And then it would be transferred back to, um,

▶ 32:32 Speaker 3: The $10?

▶ 32:33 Maya Jamaleddine: No, no, the, uh, the actual property,

▶ 32:37 Speaker 3: The property will then be, so if there's an affirmative vote of counsel on the next order tonight, the mayor would be able to execute a deed. Um, we would then record it in the registry, and then the title for that 350 square feet would be transferred to the current property owner.

▶ 32:50 Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 32:58 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, as the counselor of the area of which this resides, I'm happy to make a motion to recommend. Second,

▶ 33:04 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to recommend 1 2 9 8 5 by Cons. Ache, seconded by cons, Aldine on discussion.

▶ 33:14 Robb Stewart: Council Stewart. Thank You, Mr. Chair. Um, um, so Ms. Phillips, there, there's no lien or anything on the property, right? There's nothing that is gonna cause us any problems going down the line? You looked into all that?

▶ 33:27 Speaker 3: Uh, yes. We have looked into that. We've looked into of the registry. We've also looked into the land, what we've had the city engineer look at that as well. And like I said, we had the assessor look at the value of the property. So we've sort of done all that research ahead

▶ 33:38 Robb Stewart: Of time. I'm sure you guys, but just I feel like I need to ask. Yes. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Anyone else on discussion?

▶ 33:45 Mark Garipay: Madam Clerk, can you call the role, please?

▶ 33:48 Speaker 2: Yes. Vice Chair Jamal Ledine? Yes. Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Karen Chetty? Yes. Councilor Mki? Yes. Counselor Roman? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay?

▶ 34:07 Mark Garipay: Yes. That will be recommended to the full, uh, full council. Next up we have ID 1 12 9 8 6 authorizing the transfer of the city land located at 1 38 dash one 40 Franklin Street in Melrose to the current owners of the remainder of that property as described in the attached quit claim deed.