It's kind of a complicated story...
Decades ago, the land was rezoned to residential... some for 25,000 acre lots and the rest 5,000... the city did this as part of a master plan 45 years ago... my parents and grandparents live in regular 1950's tract homes adjacent to the property and I bought a home in the area at the opposite far end of the property...
The family property is adjacent to a city park and and two other neighbors own adjacent acreage.
It is very rugged, steep with ridges, creeks and ravines and spectacular views.
Back in the 80's, the city formed a new fire suppression district... each city parcel was assessed a fee to police/enforce the new rules which were written with a typical city lot in mind... the first year it said all vegetation taller than 6" or limbs less than 6' above ground had to be removed and the chips could not remain.
This started a conflict between various agencies... the slopes were steep and the live oaks... some hundreds of years old are famous for having huge branches that hug the ground... fire department wanted it cleared and other agencies wanted it protected... leaving property owners between a rock and hard place.
After a lot of negotiations, it was decided that owners of large parcels would deemed compliant if they put in and maintain fire trails. The trails created their own problems because now it was a haven for quads and dirt bikes...
The odd thing is you could own a home on acreage and only the area around the home needed to be maintained... however, if you had vacant land... the entire parcel was to be cleared and in some cases fenced... although no barb wire. Taxes and fees were assessed based on home many housing units "Could" be built if the land was vacant.
The adjacent landowner decided he was going to put in 80 homes on 1/2 to 1 acre lots with a generous green belt... all in compliance with exist use and ordinances... this rallied the community which believed this land was city owned... when they found out it was not... they got enough signatures to for a ballot measure to declare it open space and have the city buy the land with a new open space tax... the neighbor had spent over 2 million over the course of 5 years in engineering, professional and legal fees was on the verge of bankruptcy
The city contacted my Dad a few months before he passed away from cancer... Dad didn't want Mom troubled with the ongoing burdens ownership had become... high taxes, assessments, zoning changes, dumpers, fire suppression... so he agreed to sell most of the land to the city for 25k and acre in an area where lots go for 100k... the land was to be added to the park...
It has always been my job to maintain the trails and keep the inspectors happy...
Every time a new inspector was assigned... there would be problems.
Last year... Mom received several certified letters stating the fire inspector had declared the properties an imminent hazard and she had 7 days to abate... It took me two days of playing phone tag to actually meet the inspector at the property... he was not aware large property owners were compliant by maintaining fire trails which is what State Law says... he also pointed to an area adjacent to the local public school and said it would need to be cleared in any event because the growth provided a fire ladder up the steep terrain... again, the problem is all the land he identified is owned by either the school district, the park district or the city outright.
The acreage mom retains is about 5 acres and runs between my house and hers. We have a nice trail that we use all the time... she will be 79 and takes her dog for a walk to my place everyday...
The park district ended up with the property because owning it was getting to be very time consuming, expensive and burdensome because of increasing regulations, ordinances and ignorant city employees... (Not meant to be derogatory)
Last year I had found the home of my dreams was for sale in the county... I was so ready mentally and physically to move... tried as hard as I could to make it mine... even offered 100k over the accepted contract should the buyer in first position not be able to close... just wasn't meant to be...
Lesson learned is living in a city where the color of your house or where you park your car/tractor is regulated is not for me...
PS... the city maintains nothing stating they don't have the funds... and since I still maintain the land owned by Mom... the city has cut her locks several times to access their land because the access from the park has become overgrown to the point the poison oak make it impassable... Each time they paid me for a new lock!
