Hoover Site Development not as Acceptable as Reported

Residents of the upper Chicago Avenue area and along Kaula Drive are unhappy about reports that a unanimous decision was reached to build 55 news homes on the vacant 18.4 acres that lie immediately south of Northridge Elementary School. In fact, residents who will be most affected by the new development claim that they were not invited to the meetings held by the County to discuss the future of the Hoover property, and never expressed their "unanimous approval" of the project.

"We feel that things are going on in the background," said Gary Coad, who lives on upper Chicago Avenue.

Coad's concern is for the references of individual meetings with residential areas around the Hoover site. Recorded in the minutes of several meetings are references to residences and residents of Yvonne Way, Timothy Way and the lower Chicago Avenue area, but nothing of the residents at the north end of the area. A letter written June 14, 1996, and signed by the residents of Timothy Way, thanks Richard Erhardt (Planning Director) for his work on the Hoover site, and for revising the development plan in consideration of the traffic burden on the street and the costs of widening Timothy Way that would be incurred by the residents.

"We have the same concern," said Coad. But we weren't invited to that meeting.

The residents at the north end of the Hoover site have seen the development of 44 new homes since 1972, and they feel that an additional 55 new homes would over-saturate Kaula Way and Chicago Avenue. They are also concerned about the deterioration of water drainage, which has become a substantial problem on upper Chicago Avenue.

While some residents on the north side of the Hoover site would prefer to see the vacant area become a park, most residents don't mind the development of new housing, as long as every neighborhood shares the responsibility for the traffic.

Chicago Avenue is divided by the Hoover site and does not continue as a through street to Sunset. Current plans for the new development do not allow for access into the proposed neighborhood from the south, via lower Chicago Avenue and Timothy Way. Access would only be from Kaula.

Residents feel that the argument concerning the undeveloped state of Timothy Way doesn't hold, and are recorded in the minutes of several planning meetings as asking "Why shouldn't those roads be developed? Shouldn't they be brought up to code?"

The future of the Hoover site is not clear. The present proposal was defeated by a 90-18 vote, but residents along the north end of the vacant property are a bit wary of what may be going on without their knowledge. Their feeling is that, once the County gets hold of something, it's just a matter of time before the project is "shoved down our throats."

But aside from the traffic concerns, several residents are disappointed at the poor ethics displayed by the County and by the San Juan School District. Two residents in particular are upset with County ethics-David Polley and his mother Dorothy.

"Back in the Sixties, when my dad developed that property," says Polley, "the county made it a requirement that they give that property to them. There was a little more than ten acres there, but the County made that an agreement that they had to give them ten acres for a school."

The land belonged originally to Bud Polley, a well known developer and an active member of the Fair Oaks community.

"My dad was very much a fan of Fair Oaks. He lived here for many years. He was the owner of Fair Oaks Realty for many years, and he was the first president of the Lions Club. So he donated the land."

The Grant Deed, which turned the property over to the San Juan School District, stipulated that "... public interest and necessity require the establishment and maintenance of playgrounds and the construction and maintenance of school buildings for San Juan Unified School District of Sacramento County, California."

According to Erhardt, in a statement that he made during a School Board meeting on April, 18, 1995, "... 19.5 acres zoned RD-3 were bought from private parties in 1963 for $108, 753."

The deed that transferred ownership of the property from Polley to the San Juan School District is dated 1963, but there was no monetary transaction.

"They didn't pay for it, nothing," says Polley. "As far as I'm concerned, the county just basically ripped off our family.

"It was going to be middle school, a junior high which would help the community of Fair Oaks, so he thought he'd be a benevolent soul to do this. He wouldn't have given the property away to be sold twenty years from now for someone to make a couple of million bucks. He would have fought that. He would have put the homes on there himself a long time ago."

Bud Polley was already developing the land. "All those sidewalks, curbs and gutters that were put up in there, near the school [Northridge], my dad paid for all of that," says Polley.

The younger Polley has tried to take legal action to regain the land, but the deed never stipulated that the land would revert back to the original owner if not used for its original purpose.

And since he can't regain ownership of the land, Polley would love to see it used for its original purpose.

"I'd love to see it become a middle school. In fact, I'd love to have it in my dad's name."