Developer Makes High Bid on Federal Land in Norco

A Corona-based developer, whose tract of houses on smaller-than-usual lots has been at the center of controversy in this rural-residential city, was the highest bidder this week at a federal government auction of 80 acres in Norco.

Bill Deane, president and half-owner of Deane Financial Inc., bid $1.48 million Tuesday for 80 acres of surplus land at the southwest end of the Naval Weapons Center in Norco, said Harold Spady, realty specialist for the General Services Administration office in San Francisco.

The federal agency will review the bid and its confidential appraisal of the parcel, Spady said, before deciding on Deane’s offer.

Alaskan Bid Was Rejected

Eighteen months ago, the government rejected an Alaskan corporation’s bid of $1.3 million for the same parcel, according to John Donlevy, Norco city manager. Spady would not speculate on the likelihood that Deane’s bid will be accepted.

If the government does sell him the land, Deane said, construction of new homes could begin before the year is out, a prospect that brings a song to the hearts of city officials.

“I hope the (government) will sell it,” Donlevy said. “I would like to see it developed. The entire parcel . . . is not on any tax rolls because it is owned by the government.”

The land lies within the city’s redevelopment area, however, so its development “would be very lucrative for the redevelopment agency,” which would receive a windfall of property-tax revenues, Donlevy said.

Half-Acre Lots Required

Norco’s general land-use plan prescribes single-family houses for the area on lots of at least 20,000 square feet, like most residential areas in the city. “It’s half-acre minimum, so that’s what we’ll be building,” Deane said. “. . . We don’t want smaller zoning.”

Smaller lots in a Deane development in northern Norco prompted a petition drive to overturn its zoning, and a lengthy, but unsuccessful, lawsuit against the city by former Councilman Louis deBottari.

Opponents of the smaller lots, concerned they would set a precedent for more such development, sought a citywide referendum on the 10,000-square-foot lots.

Small-lot homeowners could eventually outnumber those keeping animals on large lots, they reasoned, and could unite to push animal-keeping out of the city. But a sharply divided City Council and three state courts rejected their bid, and residential construction began late last year.