Supervisor Offers Deal for Barham

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said he will offer a compromise today under which Orange County would pay $4 million for the controversial Barham Ranch and preserve it as wilderness.

The 525 acres, lying southeast of Villa Park and northeast of Orange, are co-owned by Orange Unified School District and the Serrano Water District. The land’s fate has been hotly debated for two years, since Anaheim-based developer SunCal Cos. proposed 600 homes on the property and began negotiations with the water district.

“I am hoping each board, after careful deliberations, will recognize that Barham Ranch is a very important crown jewel for the county’s future park acquisitions,” Spitzer said Monday. County supervisors as well as trustees for the school and water districts, respectively, would have to approve the plan.

Residents and environmentalists united against development of the hilly acreage, which was a gift to the school and water districts in the 1970s with the provision that it would be used for public educational purposes. With its equestrian, cycling and hiking trails, it is a popular recreational area that borders Santiago Oaks, Weir Canyon and Irvine Regional parks.

School district officials also opposed the home-building plan, but the water district expressed interest in SunCal’s proposal, which would have paid about $5 million in cash to each public entity and given the school district land elsewhere for new campuses. That triggered a legal battle in which the water district sued the school district over the fate of the land.

After learning of Spitzer’s proposal, SunCal officials said Monday they will bow out of the negotiations.

“We always said we would not stand in the way of the two parties reaching a mutual agreement,” SunCal spokesman Jason Grange said of the school and water districts. “We do not want to interfere.”

David Noyes, Serrano Water District’s general manager, said Spitzer’s announcement is a positive step.

“For the last few months, the group that would like to see open space has been reassuring us an offer would be made,” said Noyes, whose district serves Villa Park and Orange. “Finally there is a true offer on the table.”

Spitzer said the county’s offer, though less than what SunCal would have paid, would be the fair market value of the property.

“Four million 1/8dollars 3/8 is a very fair price to keep an open space,” he said.

Sid Stokes, interim assistant superintendent of business services for Orange Unified, said the district will consider Spitzer’s plan when the board meets Jan. 6.

“We would much rather trade our interest for land elsewhere” within the district, he said.

Community activist Marilyn Ganahl, who learned of Spitzer’s proposal Monday, reiterated that residents want to see the wilderness preserved and said citizen group Save Barham Ranch will lobby for the county purchase.

“All of us are making an all-out effort to get the word out,” she said. “This land is too valuable to let something happen to it.”

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Land Use

Supervisor Todd Spitzer will offer a proposal today for Orange County to purchase the 525-acre Barham Ranch from co-owners Orange Unified School District and Serrano Water District.

Source: County of Orange