The solution: Give back the land to the donors.
In 1998, Magoon Estate Limited – formerly the principal holder of the 22,000-acre Langtry Estate and Vineyard – donated 1,040 acres to the Business Outreach and Response Team (BORT), headed at that time by Executive Director Chuck Doty.
BORT, in turn, handed the land over to the county, which has acted as the property's trustee since then, as Lake County News has reported. The original agreement between BORT and Magoon Estate Limited contained no information about the tax write-off the donors received for offering up the land.
The donation's intent was that the property should be the site of a four-year liberal arts college, Guenoc Valley College.
But an additional 185 acres of flat land needed for the main part of the campus – which Orville Magoon and his company had said they would donate – wasn't made available, and Langtry's current majority owners, Malulani Investments of Honolulu, said they can't donate the property due to loan encumbrances on the land.
In an ironic twist, it was Doty – now president of Langtry Farms – who sent the county a letter saying the land wouldn't be donated.
That question of the additional 185 acres had required an answer when County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox took the issue to the board for the first time two and a half years ago.
Now, with it settled, Cox said Tuesday he was bringing the matter back, after board members had inquired about its status.
The land donation has a restriction that it can only be used for the college facility, but Cox – who said he has personally visited the property near Middletown – said he doesn't believe it's a feasible location.
He presented to the board a communication from Guenoc Valley College President Fran Peretti and her board of directors, who sent a resolution saying that the Board of Supervisors shouldn't take any action without their direct input.
Cox said Peretti and her board implied that the county is hurrying to make a decision on the land. “I don't think waiting over two years to put it back on the agenda is rushing things,” he said.
He said he wanted the board's direction on what action to take with regard to the property.
County Counsel Anita Grant said her office was suggesting the county seek declaratory relief in court regarding the limitations on the land's title. They've since received a letter from Langtry's attorney indicating that the company would be willing to allow for the deeds to revert back to them, and they also would be willing to consider paying the amount of back property tax that wasn't paid on the land during its 11 years off the tax rolls.
Supervisor Jim Comstock, in whose district the property is located, said he's quite familiar with the property, and that's he's walked all of it.
While it's beautiful, it's also steep. He said it isn't a good location and the current economic climate won't support building a college.
The very best solution, said Comstock, is to “unwind this clock,” which in this case meant giving the property back to its majority holder and receiving back property tax. That will put everyone back into the position they were before the donation was made, which Comstock said is in the county's best interest.
“We can move on,” he said.
Board Chair Denise Rushing was concerned about the memo from the college board. “There's sort of an implication that we have a liability,” she said.
The resolution stated that on Nov. 21, 2006, it was stated during a board meeting that “the county dropped the ball” with regard to the additional land donation.
It stated that Peretti has succeeded in fundraising and attaining “significant pledges” in 2006 “while attending to the total development of the college, much to her detriment.”
The college board's resolution further noted that the board intends to move forward with creating the college and will continue to support Peretti “so that she may be made whole for her past and future efforts as per her contract with the college and so that one day a four year liberal arts college will be a reality in Lake County.”
Signatures on the resolution include those of Eaton Magoon Jr.; John Carl Warnecke, an acclaimed architect and a friend of the Kennedy family who designed John F. Kennedy's memorial at Arlington National Cemetery; and Christy McCampbell, formerly a top United Nations diplomat to Pakistan and now director for International Narcotics Control.
An 'unusual situation'
During the Tuesday discussion, Comstock disclosed that he owns property bordering Langtry Farms but not the specific parcel in question, which he said is miles away from his land. Rushing said he would only have to recuse himself if his land was within about 700 feet of the college property.
Comstock said he and everyone else would have a greater financial interest in seeing a college built.
Cox told the board that the county wrote a letter to Magoon in 1999 asking for the additional acreage.
“Nobody from the county was in charge of this property or in charge of this project,” he said.
He and his administrative staff have been unable to find in their files any response from Magoon to that county letter. Magoon has since sold his interest in the company and retired to San Francisco.
“It's an unusual situation because the county didn't ask for this donation,” said Cox.
BORT, which had initiated the donation, asked the county to hold the property, Cox said, primarily for tax purposes. The county then became the land's trustee as it waited for the college to be developed.
“It seems like an elegant solution to unwind it” and get the back taxes, said Rushing.
She said Mendocino College is looking for property to expand its county education efforts. “If we were going to take on a mission we might start there,” she suggested.
Peretti did not attend the Tuesday meeting. Cox said he had not put the matter on the agenda all last month because she indicated she could not attend until this week, and then he found out late last week she was not coming.
“It seems like we've waited a long time,” said Rushing.
Supervisor Jeff Smith said of the college, “It has been a great dream for a while.”
However, with the additional 185 acres not forthcoming, Smith said he agreed with Comstock that it was best to give the 1,040 acres back. “I'm leaning that direction myself unless something compelling comes up to change my mind.”
Cox said, as of last year, the property tax that wasn't paid on the land totaled $28,135, a figure he said has risen to more than $30,000 as of this year.
“It's not a lot of money,” he said, noting that the land had been locked in at a lower tax rate under Proposition 13.
Comstock moved to direct county staff to pursue options for rescinding the property's conveyance to the county, give the property back to Langtry and recover the back property tax.
Grant said BORT also would need to be included in the process of giving the land back.
The board approved the motion 5-0.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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