Conaway Ranch dispute remains unresolved
County invokes eminent domain in lawsuit
Yolo County is fighting for ownership of over 17,000 acres of land northeast of Davis. The area known as Conaway Ranch holds key water rights -- a resource the county wants to keep local.
A division of Pacific Gas & Electric owned the land prior to 2001, but the property was transferred to National Gas and Energy Transmission, an East Coast energy firm, in the wake of PG&E's bankruptcy. The property was put on the market in May 2004, at which point the county made a bid in the hopes of maintaining the land for public-interest purposes.
NEGT required a "sealed biding" process with absolute secrecy, however, putting the county at a disadvantage because public entities are limited to a negotiated bidding process, according to Yolo County Parks and Resource Manager Linda Fiack.
Conaway Preservation Group -- a private group of "local landowners, farmers, nonprofit charitable organizations, and other interested parties" -- purchased the property in December. The county then filed a resolution of eminent domain, a legal process that allows government entities to acquire property from private interests, on July 8, 2004. That claim is under review.
Yolo County Counsel Steve Basha noted that the Conaway group was aware of the eminent domain claim prior to the purchase and will be subject to the final ruling.
Yolo County Supervisor Helen Thomson said that under PG&E's ownership, water was sold to buyers outside of Yolo County. She noted that the board of directors for the Conaway group includes several land developers, and that the supervisors fear water rights will again be sold to outside interests.
The Conaway group refuted those concerns in a press release.
"The group plans to maintain the existing management of Conaway Ranch and protect the property's water resources, agricultural land, wildlife, and flood control benefits," said spokesperson Tovey Giezentanner.
In an effort to reassure Thomson and the other supervisors, Conaway group president Steve Gidaro invited them to tour Conaway Ranch in February.
"The ranch's ownership continues its interest in an open and ongoing dialogue with members of the board and the other members of the Conaway [Joint Powers Authority]," Gidaro wrote in a Feb. 14 letter to the supervisors.
The Conaway Ranch Joint Powers Authority is a coalition dedicated to preserving land for local use in Yolo County that includes the cities of Woodland, Winters, West Sacramento and Davis, the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and UC Davis.
"The university joined the JPA because of the belief that the resources on the property should be held in common…" said John Meyer, vice chancellor of resource management and planning for UCD, "…we want to be a partner with other associations that want to protect those resources."
The JPA's goal is to preserve the area's agricultural and environmental resources. Its efforts are on hold pending the outcome of Yolo County's eminent domain suit.
Other conservation groups are also pressing for the area to be preserved. The Sacramento field office of The Nature Conservancy initially supported the county's initiative to buy the property, but disagrees with the use of an eminent domain claim.
"Public ownership puts it in the position to provide habitats, recreation utilities, and water in a publicly beneficial way," said Chris Unkel, Davis resident and senior field representative for The Nature Conservancy. "We are for the county to get the property under and acting with the consent of the seller, not through eminent domain."
Thomson said, however, that the county has a July court date unless negotiations with Gidaro take place.
MORGAN SEAL can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com.