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Capitola Applies for Grant to Buy Golino Creekside Property
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Capitola Applies for Grant to Buy Golino Creekside Property
By Michael Thomas
The 1.5 acre Golino property along Soquel Creek in Capitola Village is a vestige of times past, one of the few remaining lots in the city where a single vacation home sits amid bushes and trees on an otherwise undeveloped lot. So when city officials realized last year that the Golino family was seeking a buyer, Council members decided the prospect of a park was worth spending $5,000 on a consultant to search for grants.
Now the city has applied for a state grant aimed at preserving open space along riparian corridors. If the $2.3 million application is approved, it’s possible the city could buy the property without using the city’s general fund dollars. Within weeks, the city will know if the grant application made the first cut and a draft purchase agreement has been sent to the Golino family.
“If they do get [the grant] then they might be in a position to make us an offer we would accept,” said Michael Golino, who now lives in Medford, Oregon.
Some of the Golino family would like to see the city buy the property.
“For myself and some of the other people in my family, we would like to see it preserved and not developed,” he added.
The land is owned by a group of 11 family members.
Property No Longer on the Market
Capitola mayor Michael Termini said the city had an appraisal done and based the grant application on the value it determined for the property.
The land and its 1,000-square-foot home were initially listed at $4.5 million in May of 2005. Last year the price dropped to $3 million. The current listing has expired, according to Golino.
“We made a formal offer based on the grant,” Termini said. “Our offer was contingent upon receiving the grant.”
The River Parkways Grant Program was established with voter-approved funds from 2004’s Proposition 50. The funds are awarded to projects that improve riparian areas and preserve open space. If the city gets funds this year to purchase the land, it could apply for an additional grant next year to improve the property, according to Capitola Public Works Director Steve Jesberg.
If Capitola’s application gets past the first round of competition this month, state officials will visit the property and then release a final decision in May.
When the idea of purchasing additional creekside land emerged last year, some Council members were concerned that it could leave the city with a property that is costly to maintain. Even if grant funds covers the entire purchase cost, some of that wariness remains.
“It may be it’s a lot like the Rispin project where we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years just to keep it from being destroyed,” said recently elected Council member Ron Graves. “I think it ought to be brought back for a public hearing so we can see what the public thinks about it.”
Termini doesn’t believe that managing the land would be a burden.
“We have police coverage right now on that property. We watch it and respond to concerns,” he said.
Golino thinks the comparisons to the Rispin project are misguided.
“The Rispin was a development investment that was supposed to generate revenue,” he argued.
Some have suggested the Golino property could easily be converted to a small park, with the existing home perhaps retained as a nature center or other facility.
“If we can’t do that, I would be willing to let it stay there as green space,” Termini said.
He is concerned about whether legally-mandated access for disabled visitors could be built along the unpaved road that leads down to the riverside property from Wharf Road.
But Jesberg believes such a path could be built. It would require level landings at certain intervals and could not exceed a slope of 8.3 percent.
“Just having walked down there, it felt like it was near complying,” Jesberg said.
However, he is less optimistic that a connecting path could be built under the Union Pacific trestle to connect the land to Soquel Creek Park.
“The UP property is basically a sheer cliff,” he added.
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