Zeno Swijtink
11-04-2009, 09:54 PM
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact the Sonoma Land Trust and Open Space District and let them know your support for this project. Make sure to let your County Supervisor know that you want this project to succeed!*
THE PARK IS IN EFREN CARRILLO'S DISTRICT, SO HE'S THE LEAD: 565-2241, [email protected] ([email protected])
Board of Supervisors: 707 565-2241
Sonoma Land Trust, Wendy Eliot, (707) 526-6930, ext 103 or Ralph Benson, ext. 104
[email protected]
Bill Keene, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
[email protected] 707-565-7360
***
Waterfall Park is almost ours!!!
https://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/other/waterfallparkwaterfall.jpgThe 862 acre Bohemia Ranch, also known as Waterfall Park, is almost ours. Sonoma County Parks wants it for a county park and the owner has offered to sell it in a terrific bargain sale. The Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District has been evaluating the purchase since the beginning of the year and has asked the Sonoma Land Trust to take the lead on managing the acquisition. The full market value of the property is appraised at $5 million and the owner is willing to sell it for $3.5 million with a $750,000 down payment. This is a 30 % discount off the selling price. There is an mortgage held by a local church group that can be assumed. The balance will be financed as a five year loan to give time to arrange the funds to pay it off. In addition, the owner will donate $150,000 for stewardship and maintenance of the new park.
The Park, with its beautiful oak woodland, incredible views and fabulous waterfall is three miles from Occidental, in western Sonoma county. It is a major part of the watershed of Dutch Bill Creek, with three streams running off the property into Dutch Bill. Over the past ten years over $1 million has been spent restoring Dutch Bill Creek as it has one of the best remaining runs of Coho salmon left in the Russian River.
The State Coastal Conservancy, the Open Space District, and the Sonoma County Water Agency have said they can put up approximately $2 million in 2010 to help buy the park. The crucial need is to raise the down payment by year-end, as the owner needs to sell for tax purposes by Dec. 31, 2009.
As many people in Sonoma County remember, the Open Space District tried to buy the park in 1999, only to lose it at the last minute to the current owner. Over the past ten years the owner has spent over $3.5 million cleaning up the property, removing vast amounts of trash and junk, repairing erosion sites, re-building roads, doing extensive re-forestation, and had in-depth botanical and biological studies done. In 2003 he donated a conservation easement worth $2.6 million to the Sonoma Land Trust, but still retained the right to build up to six houses on the 862 acres he owns. He has completed all the septic tests (which have been approved), created a water system that produce 25 gallons per minute, and built a new road to access the parcels on the ranch. If he can't sell for a park he plans to immediately put the parcels on the market as estate home development sites.**
Contact the Sonoma Land Trust and Open Space District and let them know your support for this project. Make sure to let your County Supervisor know that you want this project to succeed!*
THE PARK IS IN EFREN CARRILLO'S DISTRICT, SO HE'S THE LEAD: 565-2241, [email protected] ([email protected])
Board of Supervisors: 707 565-2241
Sonoma Land Trust, Wendy Eliot, (707) 526-6930, ext 103 or Ralph Benson, ext. 104
[email protected]
Bill Keene, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
[email protected] 707-565-7360
***
Waterfall Park is almost ours!!!
https://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/other/waterfallparkwaterfall.jpgThe 862 acre Bohemia Ranch, also known as Waterfall Park, is almost ours. Sonoma County Parks wants it for a county park and the owner has offered to sell it in a terrific bargain sale. The Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District has been evaluating the purchase since the beginning of the year and has asked the Sonoma Land Trust to take the lead on managing the acquisition. The full market value of the property is appraised at $5 million and the owner is willing to sell it for $3.5 million with a $750,000 down payment. This is a 30 % discount off the selling price. There is an mortgage held by a local church group that can be assumed. The balance will be financed as a five year loan to give time to arrange the funds to pay it off. In addition, the owner will donate $150,000 for stewardship and maintenance of the new park.
The Park, with its beautiful oak woodland, incredible views and fabulous waterfall is three miles from Occidental, in western Sonoma county. It is a major part of the watershed of Dutch Bill Creek, with three streams running off the property into Dutch Bill. Over the past ten years over $1 million has been spent restoring Dutch Bill Creek as it has one of the best remaining runs of Coho salmon left in the Russian River.
The State Coastal Conservancy, the Open Space District, and the Sonoma County Water Agency have said they can put up approximately $2 million in 2010 to help buy the park. The crucial need is to raise the down payment by year-end, as the owner needs to sell for tax purposes by Dec. 31, 2009.
As many people in Sonoma County remember, the Open Space District tried to buy the park in 1999, only to lose it at the last minute to the current owner. Over the past ten years the owner has spent over $3.5 million cleaning up the property, removing vast amounts of trash and junk, repairing erosion sites, re-building roads, doing extensive re-forestation, and had in-depth botanical and biological studies done. In 2003 he donated a conservation easement worth $2.6 million to the Sonoma Land Trust, but still retained the right to build up to six houses on the 862 acres he owns. He has completed all the septic tests (which have been approved), created a water system that produce 25 gallons per minute, and built a new road to access the parcels on the ranch. If he can't sell for a park he plans to immediately put the parcels on the market as estate home development sites.**