MIDDLETOWN — The Lake County Board of Supervisors learned in early April that about 185 acres of land needed to develop Guenoc College in Middletown cannot be donated.
The board will discuss Tuesday what to do with about 1,000 acres originally intended for the private, four-year, liberal arts college planned in the hills near Butts Canyon Road. Without the adjoining 185 acres of land that belongs to Langtry Farms, the college cannot be built.
“The way that land is configured, it would be virtually impossible to build a college on it,” County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said.
Orville Magoon and his family donated the land to the Lake County Business Outreach and Response Team (BORT), which in turn gave it to the county in 1999 to hold until Guenoc College could develop the land. Since then, the Lake County Board of Supervisors has held the land in trust while Guenoc College President Fran Peretti contacted potential investors.
The land the county is holding for the college project averages a 30 to 35 percent cross slope, a grade Community Development Director Rick Coel called “rugged terrain. The 185-acre parcel owned by Langtry Farms is the flattest piece of land, and the easiest to develop. It was unclear at the time of the donation whether or not the 185 acres came with the donation, according to Cox.
“There was a misunderstanding about where property lines were, and we found out that the donation didn”t include land we had thought it did,” Cox said.
Cox”s office wrote Langtry Farms in 2006 to ask whether or not the 185 acres could be donated and used as part of the college. He said after the answer came in early April, prompting the need for the board”s Tuesday discussion.
Cox”s office received a letter from Langtry Farms dated April 7, 2008.
“Langtry has explored all options and due to lender obligations will be unable to donate any additional land to be used for the college or any other project,” Langrty Farms President Chuck Doty wrote.
When the board last discussed the Guenoc College property in November 2006, Dist. 1 Supervisor Ed Robey said obstacles to the project included steep terrain and the consequent difficulty bringing in water, sewer and road access.
“It”s been tough for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of the economy and because of the marketplace for new institutions,” Robey said Wednesday.
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