LAKE COUNTY – County officials say that they have no affiliation with a recent mailer that asked owners of paper subdivision lots on the Northshore to sign over their property.

Beginning in late August an estimated 180 letters went out to individuals who own lots in the paper subdivisions above Nice and Lucerne, according to county officials.

The letter was sent to property owners from the “North Shore Land Trust,” and included the APN numbers and addresses of the recipients' property.

County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox and other department heads are concerned that the letter appeared to link the North Shore Land Trust with the county government.

However, Richard Jones, one of the owners of the business – which he said is a privately held land trust, not a nonprofit – said as soon as they became aware of the concerns they immediately sent out a new letter clarifying the situation.

It was the property owners receiving the letter who first notified the county.

Eric Seely, the county's deputy redevelopment director, said he was contacted a few weeks ago by a Bay Area resident who had received the initial letter.

Cox said the property owners who have contacted the county have been very upset, with one man telling officials that he wanted to see prosecution result from the mailings.

The letter informs recipients that the county is in the process of rezoning the area's Northshore and has “already taken steps to restrict access to these 'paper lots' in the hills” of the Northshore.

The letter's second paragraph states, “You may be in receipt of official correspondence stating these fact with an offer from the County of Lake to remove these lots from the property tax role. This releases you, the property owner from the liability of paying future taxes on unbuildable land.”

It then goes on to instruct the property owner how to sign over their land.

The final draft of the county's Shoreline Communities Area Plan, which goes before the Board of Supervisors at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for final consideration, does create new zoning and requirements for such properties, Community Development Director Rick Coel told the Lake County Planning Commission last month. Officials also have noted that the county is purchasing such lots that go into tax default sales.

Other county department heads also received calls, said Seely, which resulted in a meeting to discuss their concerns and how to handle the situation.

Lore Schneider with the county's administrative office is handling the inquiries from property owners about the letter. Schneider said she's received eight calls over the past two weeks from people who own paper lots, particularly in Lucerne.

Assessor-Recorder Doug Wacker was make aware of the situation so he could keep an eye out for possible title transfers, said Seely.

“We put the whole staff on alert,” said Jim Campbell, the county's deputy county assessor.

To date there have been no such deed transfers, Campbell said.

District Attorney Jon Hopkins said his office looked into the matter, and he sent out an investigator to speak with the company.

“The letter, in my opinion, was misleading,” he said.

Hopkins, who said one of the company's owners – who he didn't specify – was in real estate, explained that the company agreed and volunteered to send out new letters, which stated definitively that they were not representing, or associated with, Lake County.

A copy of that letter was shown to the District Attorney's Office before it was mailed, he said.

The North Shore Land Trust filed a fictitious business name statement last month, noting on its application to the County Clerk's Office that it began to conduct business under that name on Aug. 20.

The business' registered owners are Jones, a Hidden Valley Lake resident, and Dallas Watson of Middletown.

Part of the confusion and concern appears to arise from the business name. While Jones said it's a privately held land trust – and added that there are many of them – land trusts are typically defined as nonprofits that hold land in an effort to preserve them against development, according to the Land Trust Alliance.

That's the same definition given by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, which accredits and monitors such groups for compliance.

Jones declined to elaborate on plans for any properties that he and Watson might acquire from the mailer.

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