MERCED (California) SUN-STAR

July 9, 2008

Proposed farmworker camp gets traction with ruling

Some feel development is excuse to rip up farmland.

By LESLIE ALBRECHT

Two sides in the long-running debate over the Felix Torres farmworker camp squared off at Tuesday's Merced County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Supporters said the camp will provide desperately needed housing for the county's poorest residents, while critics claimed the project is a backdoor bid to pave over prime farmland.

Project proponents gained some ground. The supervisors unanimously approved a minor permit change that allows a child care center on the site to move a few hundred feet.

The approval means the long-delayed project has cleared another round of red tape.

But discussion before the vote was anything but dry, touching on conspiracy theories about a public agency colluding with a private developer.

First planned in 2003, the Felix Torres migrant farmworker center will one day house 124 farmworker families on Plainsburg Road north of Highway 140.

The Merced County Housing Authority, the public agency building the project, now hopes to start work on the $17 million project this fall.

Since its inception, Felix Torres has been a magnet for controversy.

The first criticism came in 2003, when Planada residents complained about the site the Housing Authority had chosen for the new camp on Gerard Avenue.

In 2004, the Housing Authority traded the Gerard Avenue land for a Plainsburg Road property owned by private developer Pacific Holt.

The Housing Authority, a public agency funded entirely by taxpayer dollars, also signed a deal with Pacific Holt that allowed the developer to build model homes next to the migrant camp.

The deal was meant to help Pacific Holt gain approval for a planned residential development nearby.

Pacific Holt eventually sold the Gerard Avenue land to county CEO Dee Tatum -- a transaction that prompted an investigation by the Merced County civil grand jury.

The grand jury found that Tatum's role in the land deal wasn't improper, but warned that he should have reviewed the deal's history and "noticed the potential for perceived conflict of interest existed."

The Housing Authority's agreement with Pacific Holt expired in January 2008, and the developer's plans to build a massive residential project haven't moved forward. The Housing Authority director, who signed the deal with Pacific Holt, has since left the agency.

But critics of Felix Torres say the project's questionable history is still relevant.

At Tuesday's meeting, local activist Maureen McCorry -- an advocate for preserving farmland -- said she fully supports the plan to provide farmworker housing.

But she called the Housing Authority a corrupt agency that had leveraged taxpayer dollars to benefit private interests.

"The way this project has been run is a disgrace," said McCorry.

Critics have also said Planada doesn't have enough sewer capacity to handle the new camp, and that the environmental effects of the project haven't been properly studied.

Not all of Felix Torres' problems are in the past.

Earlier this year, county inspectors discovered that the Housing Authority had broken ground on the project without first obtaining building permits.

The controversy hasn't gone unnoticed.

At Tuesday's meeting, some supervisors blasted the Housing Authority for what they said was a history of disappointing behavior.

District 1 Supervisor John Pedrozo, who represents Planada, said he was upset with the Housing Authority's "arrogance" and lack of communication with him and Planada residents.

He said his disappointment in the agency marked one of the few times he's agreed with McCorry, a frequent critic of the supervisors.

District 4 Supervisor Deidre Kelsey referred to the 2004 land deal between the Housing Authority and Pacific Holt, calling the transaction inappropriate.

"I hope that the Housing Authority indeed is truly committed to providing housing for those in need in our county and are not in fact helping to speculate on housing development," said Kelsey. "That's a really inappropriate role for a public agency. I sure hope I never see anything like that again."

But Kelsey said she put aside that dubious history when she voted yes on Tuesday's permit change. The supervisors recently appointed two new members to the Housing Authority's board. Kelsey said she hopes the new blood will help the agency would leave past mistakes behind.

Several Planada residents spoke in favor of the Felix Torres project Tuesday.

County planning staff said they'd received 500 signatures in support of the project. After the supervisors approved the permit change, the audience in the board chambers applauded.

But it's not quite time to celebrate. The Felix Torres complex still needs an approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission. That vote is set for August.

As for the migrant farmworkers who will one day live at Felix Torres, they face a long wait. The Housing Authority says the complex won't open until late 2009.