Thicket of Legal Questions Entangles ‘The Woods’ : Land: Pomona College wants to build on a parklike plot, but residents say city should get the territory under an 1893 deed.

For almost a century, the legend of “The Woods” had been so widely circulated in town that many locals simply accepted it as fact.

As the story goes, the parklike area on the edge of the downtown “Village” would always be there as a condition written into the original 1893 deed to preserve in perpetuity the quiet, tree-lined strip on 4th Street between Harvard and College avenues.

But when Pomona College submitted a proposal last year to build a two-story building in The Woods for classrooms and offices, the story suddenly became garbled.

The ensuing debate between the college and several longtime residents has led to a quagmire of complex legal questions over ownership of the land and the college’s right to build on it.

The original deed stated that the eastern half of “Block 28” be given to the college by the Pacific Land Improvement Co. to hold in trust until Claremont could incorporate. At that time, the document said, the site should be handed over to the city for a “neat and tasty public park.”

But several years later, a second deed for the parcel was recorded to allow the college to build a library, funded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, with the provision that the facility be open to Claremont residents. As a result, the Carnegie Building was erected on the eastern half of Block 28 in 1908, a year after the city was incorporated.

In 1952, when the libraries of the Claremont Colleges consolidated into the Honnold Library, the Carnegie Building reverted to academic use.

Block 28 is split into two parcels. The western half, which contains most of The Woods, was sold under a different deed and is not subject to the disputed 1893 document.

But because the land originally intended for the park is being used by the college, critics argue that the western section should be given to the city for a park.

To local attorney John C. McCarthy, founder of the Committee to Save Our Park, the issue is simple: Pomona College owes Claremont residents a public park.

McCarthy said that when he bought his office on Harvard Avenue he was told--as were many other area business owners and residents, who support the committee--that The Woods, across the street, would always be there.

“The understanding was that it would be held in perpetuity, never to be developed, and left in its natural state as a condition of acquisition by the college,” said McCarthy, a 37-year resident.

College officials interpret the deed differently and maintain that although the original document may have resembled a charitable trust, it did not actually establish one.

“We believe our occupancy of the Carnegie site is both legal and moral,” Pomona College President Peter W. Stanley told a packed City Council meeting Jan. 14. “There never was a trust governing that site.”

According to college attorney Charles S. Vogel, recent court rulings on similar cases will back up that assertion.

“Neither the well-being of the Claremont community nor the law requires that the city have any interest in the site. And it is unlikely that a court would so find,” Vogel recently wrote to the council.

The debate began last February, when Pomona College proposed to build the 22,000-square-foot Hahn Building, a social sciences facility, on The Woods property. During a public hearing on the matter, residents protested that the land had been dedicated to the city for a park.

The City Council agreed to investigate and asked the college to support its explanation of its right to build.

It was not until four days before the Jan. 14 meeting that the council received a 14-page letter from college lawyers outlining their stand.

Council members have not yet stated their positions, except to say that they want to avoid a court battle.

The issue will come before the council again after the city attorney reviews the college’s response. No meeting date has been set.

Meanwhile, the college is moving forward with plans for the Hahn Building. The matter will come before the city’s Architectural Commission on Wednesday.