Thousands of pristine acres just south of Gilroy could be safe
from development if a San Diego businessman fails to pay a tax bill
by next month.
Gilroy – Thousands of pristine acres just south of Gilroy could be safe from development if a San Diego businessman fails to pay a tax bill by next month.
Wayne Pierce, managing partner of an investment group that owns more than 5,600 acres of Sargent Ranch, has until June 27 to pay off a $1.2 million delinquent tax bill to Santa Clara County. If he fails to pay up, 4,570 acres of rolling hills and streams could be sold to the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department for the price of the unpaid bill.
County supervisors have already approved the purchase, setting the stage for an acquisition that could end years of anxiety about development of the land. Supervisors have stymied Pierce’s efforts in the last decade to develop hundreds of hillside homes and golf courses on the ranch. Rather than give up, Pierce and his investment group, Sargent Ranch LLC, have struck a pact with a local Indian tribe in hopes of sidestepping county zoning regulations.
“If we can get a property that size for that amount of money, it would be a real coup for the citizens,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, adding: “In my personal opinion, open space or park land is the right way to go on that property, simply because there are so many naturally sensitive areas – salt mines, tar pits, two streams with (endangered) steelhead (trout). Any development out there to the size that they’re talking about would have significant effects on South County – on traffic, schools roads, air quality. I would be thrilled to have that as a park.”
The $1.2 million price, the county’s parks and recreation department acknowledges in a staff report, would be “well below any reasonable assumption of market value and represents an extreme cost savings.”
In an e-mail response to a request for comments, Pierce said Wednesday “that any and all outstanding property taxes associated with the Sargent Ranch property will be paid in full prior to any tax sale date.”
The Sargent Ranch property is the largest of 25 parcels scheduled for public auction June 28. The remaining 24 properties have unpaid tax bills of a combined $900,000, according to Tax Collector Martha Williams. The auction is a routine procedure that occurs every two years for properties that have not paid tax bills for six years. State law allows tax collectors to sell property to recoup unpaid taxes after notifying creditors, lien holders and any others with a potential stake in the land. Williams said her agency mailed out 700 delinquency notices – roughly 100 for each of the seven parcels making up the property – in the last year, but has yet to be paid.
Even as Pierce failed to pay his county tax bills, he borrowed $35 million on the property and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars more to help the Amah Mutsun Indian tribe gain federal recognition. A deal Pierce struck with one of two rival factions in the tribe would allow him to ignore county zoning laws, as long as the tribe gains federal recognition and places Sargent Ranch under sovereign control.
Those plans encountered a road block earlier this year, when federal investigators confirmed that Irenne Zwierlein, the tribal leader who struck the deal with Pierce, forged numerous letters to federal officials. Zwierlein’s rivals point to the letters as part of an effort to deceive the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the agency charged with granting sovereign status, about her legitimacy as a leader. The tribal leader resigned as chairwoman of the Amah Mutsun tribal council in 2001, but quickly formed a new governing body that anointed her chairwoman for life. Federal prosecutors have not said if they will pursue charges against Zwierlein, though U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Campbell), a long-time supporter of the tribe’s federal recognition efforts, said he would not renew legislation that would put them on the fast track to sovereign status.
Rival leader Valentin Lopez, who has challenged Zwierlein’s authority to strike development deals in the tribe’s name, has said his tribal council wants to preserve the bulk of Sargent Ranch. The tribe’s roughly 500 members say they trace their lineage to the ranch and other areas surrounding Mission San Juan Bautista, in San Benito County.
“We would rather that it be in the public domain than private property subject to development,” Lopez said of Sargent Ranch. “I think if someone would buy it who would be respectful of our history, culture and ties to Sargent Ranch, we would welcome that.”
County supervisors will hold a final vote June 19 to approve the purchase of Sargent Ranch. If Pierce fails to pay the fee by June 27, the purchase will head to the State Controller’s office for final review and approval.
