Farmer Told to Pull Up Roots : Agriculture: L.A. college district officials have informed the Valley’s last grower that his lease won’t be renewed.

For the last five years, Cicero Farms has reminded San Fernando Valley residents of a bygone era.

The farm offered a slice of Americana: hayrides and pumpkin patches, freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, cows and horses. But at the end of this month, barring a miracle, Cicero Farms will end its operation at Pierce College.

Los Angeles Community College District officials have informed owner Joe Cicero that his lease will not be extended or renewed when it expires in two weeks, and contrary to earlier statements, the school will not immediately solicit bids for a new tenant.

“The new president wants to take a look at the whole operation to see what’s in the best interests of the college and the farm, and that takes some time,” said David Czamanske, the district’s contracts coordinator. Cicero has been ordered to vacate the land by midnight Oct. 31.

Cicero, whose family has farmed in the Valley for more than 40 years, called the action “totally unfair.”

“I just feel the community college district is making a grave mistake,” he said. “There’s nobody here that’s doing what we’re doing . . .the community is going to be at a loss.”

The move by school officials is the lastest and perhaps the last chapter in a recent series of conflicts involving use of the land at Victory Boulevard and De Soto Avenue.

Cicero’s troubles started in December when Christmas tree magnate Stu Miller filed a lawsuit against him and the school. Miller argued that Cicero was engaging in unfair business practices by selling Christmas trees on the land the farmer leased from the college.

Ultimately, a judge ordered Cicero to stop selling trees, but the conflict, Cicero believes, influenced the school’s decision to end his contract.

Still, the farmer said he was surprised and baffled when he learned this month that officials had decided not to solicit bids for the land’s use after his lease expires. In spite of his troubles, he held out hope that the farm would win the bid for a new contract, he said.

“That really infuriated me that they would do something like that,” he said.

The decision not to solicit bids caused him to lose a $5,000 deposit on a lot where his equipment would be stored and Christmas trees would be sold. Now, Cicero said, he has no place to go.

He said he was especially puzzled by the fact that the school has no other plans for the land.

But Czamanske said Cicero was informed in May of the decision not to renew his contract and that he “has failed consistently to take the district seriously.”

Even if the bid process were opened, Cicero would not have been eligible to submit a bid because of a lawsuit filed stemming from the Christmas tree flap last year, Czamanske said.

The community college district sued Cicero, arguing that he sold Christmas trees illegally and should compensate the school for the money he made.

The school has no immediate plans for the land, but a land-use study is being conducted, Czamanske said.

News of the farm’s impending closure hit some people hard Friday.

“That’s a shame,” Pat Hufford said as her sons, Bryan and Kevin, stood mesmerized while watching baby goats play. “We come here several times a year. It kind of reminds me of what the Valley used to be like when I was young.”

While the nursery rhyme “London Bridge” played over a loudspeaker, children romped through the pumpkin patch, sizing up the wares. Others followed a clown through the bales of hay and past farm animals, oblivious to the controversy surrounding the farm.

“I’m sure there’s a developer behind it,” Gary Mason of West Hills said. “I’m very upset about this. We don’t need any more damn buildings in the Valley.”

Mason said his son cried when he found out that the family would not be able to visit the farm this Christmas.

“They talk about saving buildings for their historic value, but what about saving the last farm?” he said. “It means so much to so many people.”

Thousands of schoolchildren have visited the farm each year “to see animals they’ve never seen before,” Cicero said. After learning of the farm’s situation, nearby Pinecrest Preschool sent Cicero a chocolate cake decorated with pumpkins that said: “Not good-bye but good luck.”

Cicero said there is no other place to farm in the Valley, so he has started looking for greener pastures.

“The only thing I can think of is heading upstate to Sacramento,” he said. “There’s still land available there.”