A city may purchase, lease, receive, hold, and enjoy real and personal property, and control and dispose of it for the common benefit.

A city may acquire by eminent domain any property necessary to carry out any of its powers or functions.

The legislative body may purchase, lease, exchange, or receive such personal property and real estate situated inside or outside the city limits as is necessary or proper for municipal purposes. It may control, dispose of, and convey such property for the benefit of the city. The legislative body shall not sell or convey any portion of a water front, except to the State for use as a public beach or park, unless by a four-fifths vote of its members the legislative body finds and determines that the water front to be sold or conveyed is not suitable for use as a public beach or park.

The legislative body may erect and maintain buildings for municipal purposes.

After January 1, 1980, with respect to the construction, purchase, or lease of buildings which are located or will be located in a standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) with a population of 250,000 or more according to the most recent decennial census, which is served by a public transit operator, as defined in Section 99210 of the Health and Safety Code, the legislative body shall give consideration to the location in existing public transit corridors, as defined in Section 50093.5 of the Health and Safety Code, for the area. Construction, purchase, or lease of buildings at locations outside of existing public transit corridors may be approved after the legislative body has determined:

The requirements of Section 37352.1 shall be met if the legislative body has obtained from the transportation planning agency approval of its procedures and criteria for giving adequate consideration to the location of existing public transit corridors when acquiring public buildings or if the legislative body is the governing body of the transit operator. Before the transportation planning agency approves such procedures and criteria, any transit operator in the county shall have 45 days to review and comment.

The legislative body may acquire property needed for:

The legislative body may accept or reject any gift, bequest, or devise made to or for the city, or to or for any of its officers in their official capacity or in trust for any public purpose.

It may hold and dispose of the property and the income and increase from the property for such uses as are prescribed in the terms of the gift, bequest, or devise.

If the terms of a gift, bequest, or devise do not prescribe or limit the uses to which the property received or the income or increase from it may be put, it may be put to such uses as the legislative body prescribes.

When the legislative body determines that the public interest or convenience requires the construction and maintenance of passageways or other structures under or over any public alley in the city, to connect buildings located on abutting property and facilitate the public use of the streets, it may grant revocable permits for their construction and maintenance. They shall be constructed and maintained so as not to interfere with public traffic on the alley. The city may regulate the use of such passageways or structures.

By majority vote the legislative body may grant property owners or proprietors of manufacturing or industrial enterprises the right to construct, maintain, and operate spur tracks from their premises to a connection with any railroad. The legislative body may revoke the grant.

When the State has granted a city tide and submerged lands within its boundaries, it may grant any portion of such lands to the United States for public or governmental uses, including military or naval purposes. Such a grant may be made only if it has been approved by a vote of a majority of the city electors voting upon the proposition.

Unless otherwise provided by law, the legislative body having control of any property owned or controlled by the city may at any time withdraw the property from the personal access and use of members of the public, or limit the access or use in area or time or in any other reasonable manner deemed necessary. Any person thereafter using the property without permission or in a manner other than that prescribed is a trespasser. This section does not limit or restrict any person from access or use who has a private right in the property.

The legislative body of any city having jurisdiction over any tide, submerged, or reclaimed lands of the city, which lands or any interest therein are sought by the United States in eminent domain proceedings, is authorized to enter into any compromise with respect to such lands which seems just and expedient to it. Nothing in this section shall be construed to relinquish any reservation to deposits of oil and gas and other hydrocarbon and mineral deposits and rights of way giving access to such deposits as prescribed in Section 6402 of the Public Resources Code that has been made by the State in granting such lands to the city.

Notwithstanding anything in this chapter to the contrary, the legislative body may convey, upon such terms and conditions as it determines to be in the public interest, any surplus real property, together with any building thereon, owned by the city which has been determined by the legislative body to be of general historical interest, to an association or society the purpose of which is to research and promote the city’s historical heritage or to preserve property of historical interest in the city and which is a nonprofit corporation formed under the laws of this state. Any such conveyance shall contain a condition to the effect that the historical nature of the property be restored, preserved, or both, for the benefit of the citizens of the city, and that title will revert to the city in the event that the association or society conveys the property in question to any person or entity which is not a nonprofit corporation involved with preserving and researching the history of the city.

The Legislature hereby finds that many persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined by Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, cannot afford to purchase housing in the conventional housing market. The Legislature also recognizes that cities occasionally acquire residential property requiring substantial rehabilitation prior to being deemed habitable. Since maintenance of existing housing stock and the extension of opportunities for homeownership are desirable objectives, the Legislature declares that the public interest would be well served if cities were empowered to sell such residential property at less than market value to such persons and families of low or moderate income, on condition that the purchaser rehabilitate the home and reside therein for a specified length of time. The provisions of this section shall apply to a chartered city.

When the legislative body of a city finds the public interest and convenience require the sale for less than the market price of residential property acquired by the city, it may pass an ordinance providing for such sale. The ordinance shall set forth the procedure to be followed in completing such sales, including the qualifications required of a purchaser of such property, and shall contain provisions requiring that the purchaser of the property live in the property for a specified length of time and must rehabilitate such property to the extent specified in the ordinance; provided, however, that title to the property shall not be transferred until all the requirements set forth in the ordinance have been satisfied. Upon transfer of title by the city pursuant to any ordinance adopted under the provisions of this section, compliance with the requirements of the ordinance shall be conclusively presumed in favor of a bona fide purchaser or encumbrancer for value. Persons eligible to purchase such residential property shall be persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined by Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code. To the greatest extent possible, cities shall utilize such ordinances to assist very low income households, as defined by Section 50105 of the Health and Safety Code, and lower income households, as defined by Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code. The provisions of this section shall apply to a chartered city.