Redding is near an agreement to sell the Stratte property in Churn Creek Bottom to the Redding Rancheria, City Manager Kurt Starman confirmed Friday.

The City Council could approve an agreement to unload the 82-acre parcel as soon as Tuesday, when officials will discuss the proposed sale in closed session.

The city's still-controversial decision in 2004 to buy the Stratte Estate was a key component in plans to develop an auto mall just south of Redding, city documents show.

The property is wedged between Interstate 5 and the Sacramento River, just north of Smith Road in the Churn Creek Bottom outside city limits. The city of Redding bought the land for $1.5 million.

City officials have consistently said they had no plans to develop the meadowy rectangular wedge, nearly two-thirds of which lies in a 100-year flood plain. Officials have maintained they wanted the property left undeveloped to keep Redding and Anderson from merging into a retail strip along the freeway.

But documents reveal the city had hoped to combine the Stratte land with the 150-acre Strawberry Fields property to the north for an auto mall buffered by open space.

'No. 1 choice for an auto mall'

Pat Keener, a Redding Electric Utility (REU) and economic development official, had been tasked with finding land for an auto mall with freeway frontage close enough to town to receive city water, sewer and other services.

The Strawberry Fields just southwest of the South Bonnyview Road/I-5 interchange seemed the best candidate for a major auto dealership cluster. A $50,000 study by the Staubach AutoGroup, which the city commissioned in July 2003, later ranked that land as the top choice among eight parcels studied.

The Strawberry Fields had been available for several years, and the city had an open-ended offer of $1.8 million on the property.

But the Redding Rancheria made a competing offer in late 2003 that caught the city off-guard.

"We were two or three days late tying up the Strawberry Fields," Keener said.

On Dec. 8, 2003, Keener e-mailed then-City Manager Mike Warren and Jim Feider, REU director at the time, with news that the Stratte land just south of the Strawberry Fields was available.

Redding could make an offer on the Stratte Estate if the Strawberry Fields fell out of escrow and the city buys that land first, Keener said in the e-mail.

"This (the Stratte Estate) could further enhance the Strawberry Fields as the number one choice for an auto mall," Keener wrote. "This ensures tremendous visual exposure while leaving the west part of the properties undisturbed, with a natural buffer. May I further suggest that if the City Council wants to pursue open space or work toward not having a casino at our city's boundary this may be the means to accomplish just that?"

Differing accounts of sale

Thinking of open-space opportunities, top city administrators in early 2004 decided to push ahead with the Stratte purchase despite losing the Strawberry Fields to the Rancheria, Keener said.

Accounts differ about the negotiations leading up to the city's land purchase.

The Rancheria had offered $1.5 million for the property, Keener said in his e-mail, recounting information he had gleaned from one of the city's real estate broker's agents, a good friend of Helen Stratte.

"She (Helen Stratte) has been very reluctant to consider their (the Rancheria's) offer as she would rather not see a casino on the property," Keener said in the e-mail. "And I was further informed she does not like their business approach."

Joel Stratte-McClure, Helen's son, tells a completely different story which, he said, he had just confirmed with his mother, who declined to comment herself.

Stratte-McClure's brother, Lars Stratte, had been trying to sell the land to the Rancheria from the late 1990s until his death in a firefighting helicopter crash in 2001, he said. The family had asked $1.5 million.

"When the city came, my mother did not know the city was the buyer," Stratte-McClure said. "My mother was approached by a broker with an offer. She simply said $1.5 million. Anyone smart or stupid enough to pay $1.5 million got it."

Tracy Edwards, Redding Rancheria tribal CEO, said she wasn't familiar with either of those stories and had no personal knowledge of the tribe's past negotiations with the Strattes.

Redding Vice Mayor Missy McArthur, who was married to Sierra Pacific Industries owner Red Emmerson in early 2004, said a member of the Stratte family offered them the land for $1.5 million just before the city deal went through. Emmerson owns the 250 acres just south of their estate.

"We looked at the numbers and said 'no thank you,' " McArthur said. "It was a lot more than what we paid per acre and pricier than what we would want to pay. We did not need that acreage anyway. They (the Stratte family) were just trying to be good neighbors, calling to see if we were interested."

Appraisal supports asking price

A city-commissioned appraisal performed in late February 2004 pegged the Stratte land's value at exactly $1.5 million. The appraisal compared the parcel with 10 other properties along or near I-5, including several commercial offerings in Anderson.

The highest and best use for the land would be limited residential lots along the river and perhaps some speculative commercial development, the appraisal concluded.

"Challenging commercial development on the subject (land) are the flood areas along the river, zoning, access and the current political climate in Shasta County," the appraisal noted. "The Churn Creek Bottom homeowners vehemently oppose intensive development in the neighborhood."

The council voted 3-0 on March 16, 2004, to buy the Stratte land and to finance the purchase with a loan from REU reserves.

The city's general fund is currently repaying that loan at a rate of $200,000 a year. Redding officials are counting on proceeds from a land sale to the Rancheria to repay the REU loan and allow the city to use the money that had gone to debt service for essential services.

Rancheria interest perks up

The Rancheria has been interested in buying the Stratte land for several years, at least. Tribal government officials approached the city in November 2007 to ask if the land was available, said Edwards, the tribal CEO.

The council at that time was willing to discuss a sale, but wanted an open and competitive process, City Manager Starman said in a letter to Edwards.

The city ordered a second appraisal in early 2008 that valued the Stratte land $2.43 million. The council in April of that year declared the land surplus.

Rancheria officials last month again approached the city about a possible sale.

The Rancheria has no immediate plans for either the Strawberry Fields or the Stratte property, should the tribal government purchase that land, Edwards said.

"We are currently at a standstill with the state of the economy," she said.

Reporter Scott Mobley can be reached at 225-8220 or at smobley@redding.com.