State Land Department says 12 residential auctions could yield about 27,000 housing units; lawmakers caution on water and infrastructure

Robin Seyhead told the committee the department has a pipeline of residential sales this fiscal year and provided a rough calculation of potential housing yield. "So just this fiscal year, I just pulled this. We have 12. So this fiscal year alone, 12 residential auctions in our pipeline that we're hoping to bring to auction before the end of the fiscal year. It's about a little over 7,600 acres," she said, and added that, using a standard average of 3.5 dwelling units per acre, that equates to roughly 27,000 potential housing units.

Committee members cautioned that water and infrastructure are limiting factors and asked whether parcels targeted for sale are inside Active Management Areas (AMAs) or have serviceable water providers. Seyhead said the department checks for water service and typically brings residential parcels forward only when a water service provider or municipality can serve the site; she agreed to provide the committee a breakdown of locations, AMA status and the water service assumptions for each auctioned parcel.