County-Owned Property

In 2016, Property Acquisition teamed up with the Energy & Sustainability division on a project to identify, categorize, and document the use of all County-owned property. This effort resulted in a “living” spreadsheet that contained information about each parcel the County owned – including results from departmental reviews intended to identify County-owned land that could be sold (after BCC approval to be categorized as “Surplus”). Property Acquisition took ownership of this spreadsheet, kept it updated, and eventually worked again with Energy & Sustainability to create an interactive map. This map helped to delineate County-owned property and linked the information found in the spreadsheet.

In 2019, Property Acquisition dedicated a full-time employee to a 12-week project designed to enhance the County-owned property map, research the current and future use of each parcel, and locate deeds and associated documents. Building on this initiative, the team partnered with the Property Appraiser’s Office to provide this data about departments and uses on their Property Search website, effectively closing any information gaps between the two agencies. Visitors to the appraiser’s site can see this detail in the “Ownership Type” section of the Parcel Details page. Property Acquisition staff continually researches and updates the status of County-owned properties to ensure that the curated information remains accurate.

Below you will find the enhanced County-owned Property map which also provides links to the Property Appraiser’s parcel details page for even more information. Check out the list of frequently asked questions below regarding County-owned property and their answers.

Interactive Map of County-Owned Property

Click here to access a full-screen version of the interactive County-owned property map.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did the County acquire the properties it currently has?

There are several ways Manatee County acquires property. The current County-owned properties were acquired by:

  • Purchases from individuals for various projects
  • Dedications through plats
  • Donation from individuals, corporate entities, or government agencies
  • Grants from governmental agencies
  • Tax judgements and escheatment
  • Obtained through maintenance via road plats
  • Eminent domain settlements and judgements

Why do some places like Duette Preserve consist of so many parcels?

Some of our parks and preserves are long-range projects that are purchased over the course of several years from multiple owners. As the County grows the parks, the parcels that were purchased individually keep their original parcel identification number and are reflected as individual parcels on the Property Appraiser’s website. This type of compilation of individual parcels for a single project also happens in right-of-way projects.

The Land Use Code (LUC) Description says the property is vacant. Does that mean the County isn’t using it?

The Property Appraiser assigns a Land Use Code (LUC) to every property in Manatee County. Out of 200 codes, there are only three codes used for parcels owned by Manatee County government - ‘Public Right-of-Way’ is used for streets, roads, and alleyways; ‘County’ is assigned to all parcels that have vertical structures. An example of this is our County Administration building at 1112 Manatee Avenue West; ‘Government Owned Vacant County’ is assigned to parcels that have no vertical structures. Preserves and stormwater parcels are examples of ‘Government Owned Vacant County’. With the exception of ‘Public Right-of-Way’, the LUC Description will not tell you what a particular parcel is used for.

Owner Type is a relatively new designation that the Property Management Department developed in partnership with the Property Appraiser’s Office. These codes can be found under ‘Owner Type’ when viewing a County-owned parcel on the Property Appraiser’s website. They are designed to inform citizens of Manatee County what each County-owned property is used for. The current codes are:

 Code Description
 G10 County Administration
G11 Vacant/Submerged Lands
G12 Constitutional Officers
G13 Sheriff Department
G19 County Administration Future Use
 G20 Public Works
G21 Stormwater
G22 Right-of-Way
G24 Public Works Mitigation Site
G29 Public Works Future Use
G30 Parks and Natural Resources
G31 Preserve
G32 Park
G33 Boat Ramp
G34 Parks and Natural Resources Mitigation Site
G39 Parks and Natural Resources Future Use
G40 Public Safety
G41 EMS Station
G49 Public Safety Future Use
G50 Neighborhood Services
G51 Library
G59 Neighborhood Services Future Use
G60 Redevelopment & Economic Opportunity
G61 Affordable Housing
G69 Redevelopment & Economic Opportunity Future Use
G70 Utilities
G71 Watershed/Reservoir
G72 Sewer Infrastructure
G73 Water Infrastructure
G74 Utilities Mitigation Site
G79 Utilities Future Use
G80 Convention & Visitors Bureau
G89 Convention & Visitors Bureau Future Use

How are County-owned properties evaluated to determine their purpose/use for Manatee County?

Property Acquisition staff has examined every County-owned property to determine how it was acquired and what its current use is. This involved researching maps, public records, Board records, the historical tax roll data, and occasional site visits. Staff continuously review data and work with the Property Appraiser’s Office to update ‘Owner Type’ designations as needed.

How is County-owned property GIS data managed? Why do some parcels have multiple entries?

To avoid duplicating data efforts, we created a filter on the parcel data that is managed and maintained by the Manatee County Property Appraiser. This means that our County-owned property data comes directly from the Property Appraiser. As they update their data, our data will update as well. Recent sales or acquisitions may not be immediately reflected in the data but will appear once ownership changes are recorded by the Manatee County Clerk of Court.

If you click on a parcel you may notice how some may say “1 of #” in the header of the popup. While it may appear that there are “stacked” parcels, it’s actually just a single parcel that has multiple addresses associated with it (i.e. multiple buildings or offices).

What do the different colored parcels on the map represent?

The County-Owned Property map is color coded according to the County Department that manages or uses each parcel.

  • Yellow – County Administration
  • Gray – Public Works
  • Green – Parks and Natural Resources
  • Red – Public Safety
  • Pink – Neighborhood Services
  • Purple – Redevelopment and Economic Opportunity
  • Blue – Utilities
  • Orange – Convention and Visitor’s Bureau

What is the process for selling County-owned property? Who do I contact if I want to buy a property owned by the County?

County-owned real property is continuously reviewed by the Property Acquisition division to identify potential surplus.

Potential surplus properties are reviewed by all County departments to determine whether a current or future need for the property exists. If such a need exists, then the property is retained for the current or future use specified. If no such need exists, then the property is presented to the Board of County Commissioners for surplus consideration.

County-owned real property can only be declared surplus by the Board of County Commissioners by way of an adopted Resolution. The Resolution will prescribe the manner in which the property will be disposed of. Surplus property is typically disposed of by way of Public or Private Sale. Private and Public Sale processes are conducted pursuant to Florida Statutes Section 125.35 and the Manatee County Code, Ordinance 14-26.

For more information, please visit our Surplus Property page. If you are interested in a particular property that is not currently available as surplus, please contact us at [email protected]