A Piedmont Property Puzzle

December 28, 2007 by Redfin Blogger

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Well, I’ve done a little detective work on that property I told you about last week, 751 Kingston, that may or may not be in the City of Piedmont. However the answers I’ve come up with are only leading to more questions. Since I couldn’t find anything online to clarify the exact street borders for Piedmont, I resorted to an age-old and trusted research tool: a paper map. My AAA map shows that Kingston Avenue is indeed split between Piedmont and Oakland. It appears that Kingston Ave. is in Piedmont east of Monte Cresta Ave. and is in Oakland west of Monte Cresta. And when I go on Zillow, clicking on various properties east and west of Monte Cresta seems to confirm this. So you might be thinking (logically) “so the property’s in Oakland, duh!” Well… not so fast . Consider this: when I emailed the realtor for the property hoping to get clarification she responded by saying

“751 Kingston Ave. has a legal mailing address of Piedmont 94611, and the parcel is asssessed taxes by the city of Oakland.”

Ok. Uh, so the property is assessed by Oakland but has a Piedmont mailing address? What does that mean exactly? If someone with kids moves into that house, will they get to go to Piedmont schools even though their taxes are going to Oakland? And if not, then why have a Piedmont mailing address? On top of that, check this out: Piedmont City Council minutes from 2003 describe a property at 758 Kingston (which is actually an apartment building) as “straddling the Oakland/Piedmont border”. According to the City Council, this property owner has a choice of paying Piedmont OR Oakland taxes. The owner decided to go with paying Piedmont taxes but asked the Council if the building would get Piedmont Police and Fire protection, to which the Council stated it would “find out” from the City Administrator.

I don’t know about you, but I’m just not satisfied with this legal-mailing-address-in-Piedmont-but-taxed-by-Oakland-thing. At this point I’m contacting the City of Piedmont to find out whether a “legal mailing address” entitles one to the city’s schools.

In the meantime, if anyone out there has any information I’d greatly appreciate it! As always, thanks for reading and for your comments.

If you are represented by an agent, this is not a solicitation of your business. This article is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for professional advice from a medical provider, licensed attorney, financial advisor, or tax professional. Consumers should independently verify any agency or service mentioned will meet their needs. Learn more about our Editorial Guidelines here.