Santa Rosa may buy ranch owned by Carinalli

<p>The City of Santa Rosa is considering buying a $6.5 million former dairy ranch owned by embattled financier Clem Carinalli.</p><p>The city's Board of Public Utilities will meet Thursday behind closed doors to discuss the possible acquisition of the 277-acre parcel acquired by Carinalli in 2004.</p><p>The former Peters Dairy is located across Llano Road from the city's regional wastewater treatment plant. Carinalli said he took over the property when he foreclosed on loans he made to the prior owner, Curtis Clemmers.</p><p>The largest individual landowner in the county, Carinalli is now struggling to repay $150 million owed to investors and lenders following the precipitous decline in the value of his properties.</p><p>The 63-year-old Sonoma County native, who grew up just down the road from the property between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, said he loves the views over the Santa Rosa plain from the property and visits it regularly.</p><p>"I hate to sell it, but I have no choice," he said.</p><p>The city has been interested in acquiring the property for years to help create a buffer zone that would prevent development from encroaching on the wastewater plant, said Miles Ferris, director of the city's Utilities Department.</p><p>"We've been after that property, at least to get an easement on it, for at least 20 years," Ferris said.</p><p>The property has at least six legal home sites, and Ferris worries that construction of new homes might constrain future plant operations. Some of the home sites could be located on a hill overlooking the plant, setting up potential conflicts with future neighbors, he said.</p><p>Noise from generators, glare from lights and regular truck traffic at the plant all have the potential to conflict with surrounding homeowners, Ferris said. Buying the land now might save ratepayers money in the long run by acquiring the property before a development gets on track, Ferris said.</p><p>Today's acquisition cost is nothing compared to potential costs of mitigating the plant's impacts, such as by shielding spotlights, building barriers and installing sound dampening insulation, he said.</p><p>There are no current plans to build homes on the former dairy ranch, but that could easily change, Ferris said.</p><p>"The whole object is to not have these problems in the future," Ferris said.</p><p>The largest wastewater facility on the North Coast, the regional treatment plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and treats about 21.5 million gallons of wastewater per day. About four truckloads of sludge leave the plant every day, Ferris said. It began operations in 1964.</p><p>In addition to protecting the plant, buying the land would give the city the opportunity to restore parts of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, which runs through the property, and potentially create hiking trails, Ferris said.</p><p>The city "took a stab" at acquiring the Peters Dairy property previously, but was never able to strike a deal, Ferris said.</p><p>Two weeks ago, as his financial troubles mounted, Carinalli called the city to see if it might still be interested in the property, he said. On Tuesday, he said he was unaware the Board of Public Utilities had scheduled a closed session to discuss the matter.</p><p>He said he hopes the city is still interested. The price of the property was recently dropped from $9.5 million to $6.5 million, Carinalli said.</p><p>With taxes and back interest, Carinalli estimates he has about $7.5 million invested in the property.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.</p>