Small slivers of public land in north Sacramento neighborhood up for grabs

SACRAMENTO — Small slivers of public property are now up for grabs in one north Sacramento neighborhood.

More than 300 new affordable homes have been built in Sacramento's Del Paso Nuevo neighborhood. But now that construction is complete, the city's housing authority has discovered eight small remnants of public land that are left over.

"Due to maintenance costs and it's very small for redevelopment, you can't really put anything on there," said City Councilmember Shoun Thao, who represents the area.

Each of the properties is under a quarter-acre and run along the front and sides of adjacent homes.

Neng Thao has owned his home there for eight years and has always wondered about the mysterious strip of land next door.

"When we first bought the house, we was wondering what are they going to do with that land. Are they going to build some kind of house right there or are they just going to leave it like that?" he said.

Now, the city is trying to get rid of these leftover land slivers, and they're offering to sell them to homeowners for as low as $500.

Neng Thao is already coming up with ideas for his soon-to-be super-sized yard.

"Probably fence it around and probably garden on that side for vegetables and plant some fruit trees over there," he said while showing is the area.

His sons who play football have bigger plans.

"Probably like to put a little spot for throwing the football and stuff, like a little field," one of the boys said.

The city said it costs $13,000 a year to maintain the parcels, and handing them over to homeowners will ultimately save money.

"I think it makes sense that the homeowners that have been either taking care of it or complaining about it have a chance to include that into their yard," Councilmember Thao said.

The Sacramento City Council is scheduled to vote on selling the land slivers at it's meeting next Tuesday.