COUNTYWIDE : County Invites Bids for Seized Ranch

Rancho del Rio, the 213-acre spread in southeast Orange County that became a symbol of the war on drugs, is officially for sale.

County supervisors voted Tuesday to open the bidding for purchase of the property, the former home of an alleged drug kingpin. The lowest bid the county will accept is $1.54 million. Deadline for bids is June 26.

In December, supervisors turned down the idea of using the remote ranch, seized in a 1985 drug raid, as a narcotics enforcement training center because the financially strapped county could find other uses for money from proceeds of the sale.

The decision angered Sheriff Brad Gates, who said at the time: “They just cut my guts out in the war on drugs in this county.”

President Bush visited Rancho del Rio in 1989 during an anti-drug campaign and delivered a speech in which he referred to the seized property as “a source of hope.”

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said officials have heard from potential buyers who want to turn the ranch into a golf course, a cemetery, a private housing development and a commercial area. The Girl Scouts of America also expressed an interest in turning the property into a training and camping facility, he said.

“There is a lot of interest in it,” he said.

The supervisors also agreed that if there are no bids, they will authorize the sale of the property to the county’s own Harbors, Beaches and Parks for $1.54 million.

Schneider said officials have written to the U.S. Justice Department to ask if it will make an exception to a stipulation that the county must either turn the property into a drug training center or use any proceeds from its sale to augment law enforcement functions.

“We haven’t heard back from them,” Schneider said.