The county of Orange isn’t
sufficiently notifying residents about the potential sale of public lands to
private individuals, according to a recent report from the Orange County Grand
Jury.
In its document, “County
Land Transactions: Will the Public Notice?,” the investigative body also
identified a number of other faults with the procedures for the sale of public
lands in Orange County, including that the county has also failed to properly
notify involved state agencies, like the California Coastal Commission, about
potential land sales.
The grand jury said it
chose to investigate the matter after receiving complaints from residents about
the sales of public park land to private individuals. The county owns about
80,000 acres of park land. While it sometimes makes sense for the county to
sell land to private people, these sales should be “carefully scrutinized” so
that there isn’t any unnecessary loss of valuable public land and to protect
against politically fueled deals, the grand jury wrote.
“Notice efforts should
include mailings, property depictions, and other information that properly
inform citizens impacted by the sale,” the grand jury said. “This information
should also be displayed on appropriate websites and published in a manner that
will reach the intended audience.”
County spokeswoman Molly
Nichelson declined to comment on the report.
A controversial sale in Newport Beach
For its report, the grand
jury specifically investigated a proposed sale in the Newport Beach Back Bay
area that sparked controversy last year. Voice of OC reporter Brandon Pho
covered the deal, where county officials nearly sold a piece of park land to a
wealthy political donor, whose home is connected to the parcel, for $13,000.
Initially, the county did
not move forward on the homeowner’s proposal. But then, former county
Supervisor Michelle Steel stepped in and advocated for the deal, and it gained
traction, the grand jury said. Steel is referred to as “then-County Supervisor
for District 2" in the report. A spokesperson for Steel did not respond to
a request for comment.
The grand jury wrote that
the parcel is surrounded by a chain-link fence that was installed by the
homeowner that borders a walkway and is near a paved pathway that is used by
walkers, bicyclists and equestrians. The land was given to the county decades
ago by the Irvine Co. under the condition that it remained park land, and the
county eventually adopted a resolution that declared the land where the parcel
sits, known as Newport Beach’s Back Bay Reserve, as public land. The California
State Land Commission also recognized the area as public trust land. The county
resolution noted that the commission leased the property to the state’s
Department of Fish and Game for open space.
“With the support of the
then-District 2 Supervisor, steps were taken to sell the land with no
restrictions despite the predated covenants and restrictions and without regard
to the Board of Supervisors and the California State Land Commission’s
resolutions that the land shall be held in trust under the stewardship of the
State’s Department of Fish and Game,” the grand jury said.
The grand jury wrote that
the appraisal for the property, which was paid for by the homeowner, came in
“at only” $13,000, even though the added land would “substantially increase”
the value of the homeowner’s property. Despite the low price tag, the board
voted to move forward with the sale in January 2021. The grand jury said that
the staff report that was prepared ahead of the supervisors’ meeting did not
mention the previous board resolution permanently designating the property as
public trust land.
The grand jury also found
fault with the county’s lack of notice to residents.
The county is required to
publish a notice of a sale of public land in a newspaper. However in this
instance, the county chose to print a notice in the OC Reporter. The grand jury
found this to be inadequate, and contended that the notice should have been
posted in the Orange County Register or Daily Pilot.
“Although the OC Reporter
prints some articles of general interest, this publication exists primarily to
provide a vehicle for legal notices,” the grand jury said. “It is not within
the spirit of the law to claim that this is the newspaper with the greatest
circulation in order to provide notice to local citizens ... In addition, the
legal notices published do not provide average interested citizens true notice
of what is being sold as the notices are purely legal in nature and the
properties are often described by plot number and other technical identifiers.”
The Board of Supervisors
was scheduled to vote on the approval of the sale in April 2021, but it didn’t
go through due to newly elected Supervisor Katrina Foley tabling the item.
Foley took Steel’s seat on the board after Steel was elected to Congress. The
grand jury noted that if Steel had remained on the board, “the sale of this
land would most likely have gone through.”
Concerned residents who
had learned of the issue by word of mouth then started circulating a petition
to prevent the sale. According to the grand jury, a petition with the
signatures of at least 200 residents can force the board to either stop the
sale or put it to a public vote. The petition gathered about 1,300 signatures
and the sale has not moved forward. Yet, the chain-link fence is still in
place, which the grand jury takes issue with.
“By allowing the
owner-installed fence surrounding [the parcel] to remain in place, the County
has permitted the homeowner to inappropriately privatize this parcel at no cost
to the homeowner and in a manner inconsistent with the well-established public
trust designation,” the grand jury wrote.
Recommendations
The grand jury provided a
number of recommendations in its report, including that conservation easements
and dedications of public trust land should be properly recorded with the
county recorder so that they can be adequately referenced when potential sales
are being considered. The investigative body also said that the Board of
Supervisors needs to establish procedures to make sure that staff reports
include information about conservation easements and public trust designations.
The grand jury also
recommended that “mailers, social media, meaningful newspaper notices, and
physical postings all be utilized to provide proper notice to the public at
large.”
Lastly, the grand jury
contends that the board should order the removal of the chain-link fence before
the end of the year.
Daily Pilot
Ben Brazil
June 15, 2022
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