SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Deal Completed for 56-Acre Farm

Longtime farmer Shigeru Kinoshita got a check for $1 million and the city got a 56.5-acre farm last week, completing a $9.5-million land deal and open-space agreement announced last October.

Under the terms of the deal, Kinoshita received the $1-million check from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The check represents the first payment and will be followed by 20 years of interest-only, tax-exempt payments, with the balance due in 2011, according to a report released by the city.

Under a separate management agreement, Kinoshita and his family, who have owned the farmland in the middle of the Capistrano Valley, will continue to operate 46 acres of the farm for no more than the next five years. In the meantime, the city must decide how much of the property to maintain as a farm and how much will be designated for park or recreational uses, Kinoshita said.

Ten acres of the farm next to Marco Forster Junior High School has already been reserved as a potential adult education site under an agreement with the Capistrano Unified School District, according to the report.

To pay for the farm, the city will use about $6.5 million in bond proceeds from Measure D, approved by voters last April, and from California Coastal Conservancy funds and money from its parks, recreation and agricultural funds, according to the report.