Family is adjusting lot lines to give each member a flat,
accessible parcel
Gilroy – Castro Valley Ranch, the largest of three remaining historic ranches surrounding Gilroy, will undergo “subdivision” in the loosest sense of the word as part of a more equitable distribution of land among property owners.
The 8,400 acres of ranchland stretching southwest of Gilroy are controlled by a “rather large family” through a corporate entity known as CVP/Castro Valley Ranch, according to Don Long, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Long declined to identify the family behind the corporation, but dispelled the notion they are prepping the land for large-scale development.
“The basic idea here is a lot-line adjustment,” Long explained. “We have 16 legal recorded parcels and they’re odd sizes and the roads don’t always meet the parcels. We have some that are landlocked.”
No family members live on the ranch at the moment, but the lot-line adjustments will give each member a parcel that is accessible and flat enough to build a personal home. To that end, the family is working with county officials to redraw lot lines varying in size from 182 to 2,412 acres, according to county documents.
The effort began five years ago at the county level, but a state law passed two years ago has complicated matters. The law requires any lot-line adjustments to be treated as “subdivisions” that trigger certain baseline requirements such as access roads. A narrow one-lane road now cuts through portions of the property.
“Under normal subdivision rules, a road is required to be up to county standards,” Long explained. “The county is requiring us to do that, although originally we did not intend to build access roads.”
And the addition of a road requires the family to conduct an environmental impact report. Long said the road will connect the inner properties, while a frontage road will provide access to parcels along the outer edge facing Highway 101.
Long said the subdivision will not affect the current use of the land as a cattle ranch, quarry and timber harvesting site.
In addition to Castro Valley Ranch, two other historic ranches lie near Gilroy. Former Santa Clara Mayor Gary Gillmor owns 2,100 unbroken acres in the Uvas Valley, north of Hecker Pass Highway. Wayne Pierce, a high-profile developer from La Jolla, serves as managing partner for an investment group that owns Sargent Ranch, roughly 6,500 acres south of the city that spill into San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
In the last decade, county officials have spurned efforts to bring golf courses and homes to both properties. Pierce is now working with a local Indian tribe to place the land under tribal sovereignty, outside the control of county officials.
