MIDDLETOWN — What to do with 1,000 axres of land donated eight years ago for the purpose of building a four-year college adjacent to Butts Canyon Road in Middletown is up for dicussion today to the Board of Supervisors” regular meeting.
The county”s Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said in a memo to the board that the land is “very hilly and not conducive to construction of classroom buildings or other amenities typically found on a college campus.”
The county acquired the property after Orville Magoon and family donated it to the Lake County Business Outreach and Response Team (BORT), which in turn gave it to the county in 1998 to hold until Guenoc College could develop the land.
It was apprantly unclear at the time whether or not a flatter parcel of about 185 acres came with the donation. The board”s 1999 letter to Magoon requesting clarification got no response, prompting Cox”s recent letter.
“Our property is currently encumbered by financing and multiple ownership entities,” said a response letter dated July 9, 2006, from Sandy Tucker, Sr. Vice President of Langtry Farms, the property”s current owner. While donating the parcel would be difficult, the letter stated that they would be willing to work out a solution with the county.
“This is a very ambitious, great idea. So far it hasn”t happened for a lot of reasons,” said Distrct 1 Supervisor Ed Robey on Monday. He cited reasons of steep terrain and the consequent difficulty bringing in water, sewer and road access.
“To build on a hillside is more expensive than to build on flat terrain,” said Robey.
Cox called the 185 parcel “essential to the future development of a college,” saying that without it, “the viability of this project is at risk.”
The project is in the spotlight after the Board of Supervisors recently requested that Guenoc College president Fran Peretti give a status update, which in turn raised the questions that will be up for discussion at today”s meeting.
