Santa Rosa board decides not to buy Carinalli property

<p>Santa Rosa's Board of Public Utilities has rejected purchasing the 277-acre Peters Dairy, partly because of the asking price and partly because of the financial difficulties of owner Clem Carinalli.</p><p>The asking price for the now defunct dairy, located on a sloping hillside south of Santa Rosa's regional sewage treatment plant on Llano Road, is $6.5 million.</p><p>Robin Swinth, vice chairwoman of the board that oversees operation of the treatment plant, said Friday the BPU decided not to pursue the purchase because Carinalli's asking price “is too high.”</p><p>She said it also had to do with his ownership of the property.</p><p>“Carinalli is in a great big mess and we don't want to be perceived as someone's bail-out. We don't need that,” she said.</p><p>The board came to an informal consensus, she said, after a closed-door meeting Thursday to discuss the purchase.</p><p>Carinalli, Sonoma County's largest individual property owner, is struggling to repay $150 million he owes to dozens of investors and lenders following the collapse of real estate values over the past year.</p><p><NO1><NO> Among Carinalli's holdings is the Peters property, which he obtained when he foreclosed on loans he had given the ranch's previous owner, Curtis Clemmers, as part of his deal to acquire the ranch..</p><p>Carinalli, who three weeks ago approached the city about purchasing the property, said Friday he'd prefer not to comment on the board's decision.</p><p>“They have their own business to run. They made a business decision and I accept that,” he said.</p><p><NO1><NO>Swinth said if Carinalli's asking price drops to something the city can afford, “and we think it's a good deal for ratepayers, then we will consider a deal.”</p><p>Carinalli originally put the property on the market for $9.5 million about six months ago, and then dropped it to $6.5 million three months ago, a price he said is lower than what he paid for it.</p><p>City officials said they have long been interested in acquiring the Peters property as a buffer zone around its regional sewage treatment plant.</p><p>Utilities Director Miles Ferris said owning the land would help insulate the plant from homeowners who might force the city to undertake multi-million dollar plant improvements if they could show in court the plant generates unwanted smells, noise, traffic, lights and other problems for nearby residents.</p><p>Josh Maresca, the city's land negotiator, said the city began to create that buffer by buying five farms totaling 52 acres along Walker Avenue, located on the east side of the regional plant, in 1993 and 1994.</p><p>Maresca didn't have the cost of those properties at hand Friday but said the buying program resumed in 2007. Over the past three years the city has bought three additional farm properties totaling 15 acres, also along Walker Avenue, for $2.3 million.</p><p>The properties include several homes.</p><p>Thursday was not the first time the city contemplated purchasing the Peters Dairy.</p><p>Maresca said the city, with the Sonoma County Open Space District as its partner, bid $3.5 million in 2000 to purchase it but lost out to someone else.</p><p>“It's a gorgeous piece of property and it's the highest point on the Santa Rosa Plain,” he said.</p><p>He said the property also is an environmental treasure with a stand of high quality woodlands, nearly two miles of the Laguna de Santa Rosa flowing through it and several endangered species on the property, including the Sebastopol Meadowfoam.</p><p>Carinalli agreed the views from the property are spectacular. “I love the place,” he said.</p>