Opinion: City should release appraisal it used when it agreed to buy part of Cubberley

BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor

When the Palo Alto City Council asks voters to approve a brand-new sales tax to fund a $65.5 million land purchase, it owes those voters absolute transparency. 

In October 2024, the city and school district approved an agreement for the city to buy seven acres of the Cubberley Community Center campus for a staggering $65.5 million.

Now the city is going to the voters in November for approval to raise the sales tax by a half-cent on the dollar to pay for this purchase and make other improvements to the Cubberley buildings, which were originally constructed in 1956.

Voters will have a couple of questions:

• Don’t we already own these buildings through the school district? Why are we paying for land we already control?

• Is $65.5 million a fair price?

One way to know if $65 million is a fair price is to read the appraisal of the property by a real estate expert. The expert would make a determination based on several factors including any comparable sales in the area.

Since the community is buying this land (from itself), it should be allowed to read the appraisal. Voters cannot be expected to sign a multi-million-dollar blank check in the dark.

The Post has asked the city for the appraisal but City Manager Ed Shikada said it was confidential under the California Public Records Act. 

Generally, appraisals obtained by local governments are confidential under that law. However, California Government Code Section 7928.705 states that real estate appraisals must be released to the public once a final agreement between the buyer and seller has been reached (See below).

On Oct. 3, 2024, the city issued triumphant announcements declaring that a contract agreement had indeed been reached between the city and the school district. By the explicit letter of California law, obtaining that agreement ends the statutory permission for secrecy. 

In fact, the city’s news release bragged that the negotiations for Cubberley had been concluded. It said:

“After many years of community interest in the city being able to own enough land to proceed with rebuilding and renovation of the Cubberley Community Center, city and PAUSD officials are pleased to have successfully concluded negotiations with a joint plan that paves the way to stronger schools and a vibrant community center at Cubberley for all Palo Alto residents.”

The press release even included a quote from the chairwoman of the council’s negotiating team, Julie Lythcott-Haims: 

“At long last, we had the right mix of council members and school board trustees needed to get the job done.”

It’s a done deal. Withholding the appraisal is no longer a discretionary choice — it is a direct failure to follow the explicit timeline laid out in the state’s public records law.

City Manager Shikada, in withholding the appraisal, implied that transparency must wait because both the City Council and the school board are currently on summer break. These excuses are entirely unacceptable. A summer recess does not pause the law, nor does it freeze a government’s obligation to the public. Vague promises of mutual benefit do not replace hard financial data.

If the valuation is fair and benefits the community, the city should show its math proudly rather than withholding the numbers.

Demanding that citizens vote on a sales tax while withholding the appraisal undermines the democratic process. Trust is earned through openness, not bureaucratic stonewalling. City Council and school board must immediately comply with the spirit and letter of the law, waive any remaining semantic objections, and release the Cubberley appraisal. If local leaders want the public to invest in the city’s future, they must first trust the public with the facts.

Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays.

The Law

Government Code section 7928.705

Italics mine.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) and in Section 7924.510, 7924.700, and 7929.610, this division does not require disclosure of the contents of real estate appraisals or engineering or feasibility estimates and evaluations made for or by a state or local agency relative to the acquisition of property, or to prospective public supply and construction contracts, until all of the property has been acquired or all of the contract agreement obtained.