Plan to Sell to Tribe Offends Many

SANTA YNEZ, Calif. —  As a pigtailed tomboy growing up in Santa Monica, Nicki Alexander was so enthralled with childhood hero Davy Crockett that she tried never to miss the Disney program and even wore a coonskin cap to the hospital when she had her tonsils out.

For the past decade, Alexander proudly displayed a photo of Fess Parker, the actor who played Crockett, along with an autographed bottle of Fess Parker wine.

But recently Alexander became so disgusted when she learned of Parker’s plan to team up with Chumash Indians to develop open space in the Santa Ynez Valley that she removed the photograph and poured the wine down the drain.

“Davy Crockett was an honorable man who helped people,” said Alexander, 53, a kindergarten teacher and mother of two who moved to Santa Ynez in 1978. “I don’t think what Fess Parker is doing is honorable.”

Alexander is one of many residents who have expressed their dismay since Parker announced his intentions in early March to sell 745 acres of ranchland to the Chumash tribe. Initial plans called for building a resort hotel, two championship golf courses and up to 500 luxury homes. Since the land would be annexed by the tribe on sovereign land, the development could proceed without adhering to county zoning laws and land-use regulations.

In response, locals have boycotted businesses that continue to serve Fess Parker wines. Opponents of the plan have pasted white “FESS” stickers on stop signs throughout the valley. Some friends and acquaintances have shunned the lanky Texas native. And members of Parker’s own family have expressed concerns about the project.

Last month, so many people packed a town hall rally against the development -- an estimated 800 showed up -- that the Solvang fire marshal halted the meeting and ordered many of them to leave.

The community uproar has not fazed Parker, 79, who expects to open escrow next month to turn over the land to the Chumash.

“I just can’t find anything in this whole thing to regret,” Parker said. “It does give me great pleasure to do this for the Indians. If they don’t deserve to live in the most beautiful portion of this valley, who does?”

Of his adversaries, Parker said, “I think all those people are all wet, all wrong, all the way. It would take a lot to convince me that I am not correct.”

The project is believed to be the first of its kind attempted by a tribe in California. It has alarmed preservationists because the scale far exceeds any real estate development in the rural Santa Ynez community, located in Santa Barbara County.

The Chumash tribe is seeking to convert the property to “Indian country” status. If the petition is approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the state and county will not be able to levy taxes, regulate land use, impose environmental restrictions or address effects on traffic, air quality, water resources, public safety and schools.

Many of those issues would be left to the Chumash to determine under the rule of tribal sovereignty. Others would fall under federal environmental review.

A group of residents has long been frustrated by its inability to block expansion of the $150-million Chumash Casino resort, which opened in September. The tribe is scheduled to open an adjoining 106-room hotel in July.

Some residents contend that Parker, who has fought with city and county regulators over development rights, is using the arrangement with the Chumash to do an end run around land-use restrictions.

“Why does he think he doesn’t have to live by the same rules that everyone else does?” asked Doug Herthel, a Los Olivos equine veterinarian who is so upset with Parker that he has threatened to drop him as a client.

Among those critical of Parker is E. Alex Valencia, a former Chumash chairman and a critic of the tribal leadership.

“I oppose this venture with Mr. Parker and the tribe because I believe he is using the tribe’s sovereignty to bypass the regular process one has to submit to so he can build his dream,” Valencia wrote to the head of the Santa Ynez Valley Concerned Citizens.

Parker acknowledged that working with the Chumash avoids county restrictions that had frustrated his hopes for developing the property. But “this isn’t a loophole,” he said. “This is a clearly stated goal by the federal government to provide tribal housing and encourage investments for the tribe’s future economic stability.”

Parker bought 1,428 acres at the corner of California highways 154 and 246 for $6 million in 1998. When the county rebuffed his efforts at development, Parker said, he listed the property for sale at $28 million.

Wealthy residents have approached Parker in recent months about buying the land to avert the development, but he is no longer interested.

Under the plan, the Chumash would own 51% of the partnership. Fesspar LLC, a Parker company, would retain 49%, along with some control over planning and development. The cost of the project is estimated at about $250 million.

The project would alleviate a housing shortage on the small Chumash reservation. Tentative plans call for setting aside 150 homes for enrolled tribal members.

The chairman of the tribe, formally known as the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, said he had warned Parker during their early discussions that the former actor would “get a lot of heat” if he formed a partnership with the Chumash. Vincent Armenta said he expected Parker would face public scorn, but did not expect residents to engage in boycotts or deface stop signs.

“I never imagined it would go this far,” Armenta said.

During an interview in his second-floor office in Los Olivos, Parker recalled having recently been berated by a man while eating breakfast at a cafe in Santa Ynez. He said that a few memberships to his Fess Parker wine club have been canceled.

“I understand their concern because it is based on what they fear and not what they know,” Parker said.

Clad in a short-sleeved shirt and khaki pants, Parker sat in a brown leather chair with his feet propped on a matching Ottoman. Hanging on the walls were TV Guide covers of his roles as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, as well as architectural drawings of the Chumash project and a second oceanfront hotel he is building in Santa Barbara.

Parker said most of the letters he has received since the announcement have chastised his role in the project. One came from a friend, actor John Forsythe, and his wife, Nicole.

“We love and respect you, Fess, yet we are deeply, deeply saddened, shocked, and unable to grasp why you are involved with the Chumash development deal that will forever change what we all cherish about our beloved Valley,” the Forsythes wrote. “What is particularly distressing is how people are now talking about you, our good friend, the revenge they will take if you do go through with this, and the betrayal everyone feels.”

About half a dozen area restaurants have bowed to customer demands and stopped carrying Fess Parker wines.

“It’s strictly a business decision,” said Matt Nichols, co-owner of Mattie’s Tavern, a popular restaurant around the corner from Parker’s office. “I stand to lose a lot more business by having the wines than I stand to gain by not serving them.”

Parker confirmed that he had left a voicemail warning Nichols that if Mattie’s didn’t carry the wine, Parker’s Wine Country Inn & Spa would stop referring its guests to the restaurant.

The informal wine boycott has caused a slight dip in local sales but has not affected the company’s profits. First-quarter sales ran 27% ahead of last year, and April was the best-selling month in the 15-year history of Fess Parker wines, said Tim Snider, Parker’s son-in-law who serves as vice president of marketing and sales.

Still, the protests have caused some discomfort for Parker family members who live and work in the community.

“The family has different points of view,” Parker acknowledged. “Fine. Let ‘em work it out.”

When he initially informed his son and his daughter about the proposal, Parker said, they were apprehensive. “I think they have grown comfortable with it.”

Ashley Parker Snider, 39, executive vice president of her father’s wine business, said she had mixed feelings.

“Personally, I would not want to see a really dense housing project out there,” Snider said. “I do hope and pray that Fess gets the control that he needs in this partnership with the Chumash to put together something that is appropriate for the valley.”

On the other hand, she worries about the effect the project will have on her father’s legacy in the Santa Ynez Valley.

“That really kind of pains me,” Snider said. “People have said some very hurtful things.... Personally, I am reluctant to frequent stores or restaurants in the valley at this point.”

Not so with her father.

“He definitely has strong convictions and he definitely has thick skin,” she said. “I’m glad for his sake that he does.”