Countywide : Supervisors to Vote on 2nd Public Auction

Orange County plans to go to the auction block again, offering another assortment of county-owned properties for sale to help the recovery from bankruptcy, county officials disclosed Wednesday.

The public auction is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 27-28 at the Inn at the Park Hotel in Anaheim. The plan will be put before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Although the county’s first auction was a disappointment, generating only about $9 million when organizers expected at least $30 million, officials said Wednesday that getting rid of unwanted county properties is still a valid way to raise cash.

In the first auction June 20, county officials rejected many of the winning bids for the 19 properties because they thought the bids were well below market value. Some of the same parcels from the first auction would be offered for sale again, county officials said.

Supervisor William G. Steiner said the county might be more willing to deal this time.

“I think there was a great deal of reluctance to unload the properties far below market value, but now that we are so close to our recovery goals, it might be appropriate to take a little less,” Steiner said. “I think there will be a greater incentive to deal.”

He said the county’s recovery plan still hinges on raising about $20 million from asset sales.

The properties include: the Howe-Waffle House in Santa Ana, which is a historical building; a 2.65-acre site on Live Oak Canyon Road in Trabuco Canyon; a refuse disposal station in Anaheim, and 10 properties in the Back Bay area of Newport Beach.

Like the last auction, the county would set undisclosed prices for the properties before the auction. If the bids fell short of those prices, the county could refuse the sale.