Developer’s $205,000 Tax Bill Overdue : Ormond Beach: County officials say they have little recourse to collect from delinquent Baldwin Co., which owns 424-acre property.

The Baldwin Co., the beleaguered residential developer that declared bankruptcy in July, is delinquent on more than $205,000 in taxes for its undeveloped 424-acre property at Ormond Beach, county officials said Tuesday.

The Newport Beach-based company also owes more than $4 million in delinquent property taxes in San Diego County and another $1 million in back taxes in Orange County, where officials have launched foreclosure proceedings against the home builder’s property there.

Although the Baldwin Co. property is one of Ventura County’s 10 worst property tax delinquents, county officials cannot foreclose on it, said Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector John McKinney. Such action can take place only in cases where the county has issued bonds and created a special assessment district to pay for streets and sewers, he said.

The county’s only option is putting the property up for sale to cover unpaid taxes, but that cannot occur until the company has been delinquent for five years, McKinney said. So far, the company is only five months late.

The Baldwin Co. was also late on $129,000 in property taxes for its 106-acre Lang Ranch development in Westlake, but made full payment in June, McKinney said.

Baldwin spokeswoman Annette McCluskey said the company plans to pay its back taxes as soon as possible and get moving on its proposed development in Ventura County. “There may be a slight setback, but things should basically go on schedule,” she said.

For almost 10 years, the firm has planned to build houses at Ormond Beach, a sensitive wetlands area that is home to the Tidewater Goby fish, California least tern and other endangered species.

The current proposal to build about 5,000 homes has yet to go before the Oxnard City Council for approval.

On Sept. 19, the council will consider the Baldwin Co.’s adjacent Village West townhouse development, considered the first step in the builder’s plans for its coastal property in Oxnard.

Councilman Andres Herrera said he met with co-owner Alfred E. Baldwin during a recent trip to San Diego. The developer took him on a tour of one of his projects and assured him that the Baldwin Co. was still serious about building houses in Ventura County, he said.

“I needed to find out their commitment to Oxnard--if they wanted to put their project in the best light, they’d better let us know what was going on,” Herrera said. “What he indicated to me was that they made quite an investment in this area and they want some return on that investment.”

Herrera said he remains concerned about the company’s viability and opposed to the Village West project.

“It’s the location,” he said. “They need to find another place for it.”

Village West, which would consist of 208 duplexes and 143 houses, faces a multitude of critics. Business leaders have joined environmentalists to raise objections to homes on the site that borders the Halaco aluminum smelting plant and other heavy industrial plants.

Even the Oxnard Fire Department has written a letter stating its opposition to the development, arguing that nearby companies store explosives, large amounts of ammonia and other hazardous chemicals that would pose a serious safety concern to families.

“These plants run 24 hours a day,” said Ronald Barrett, an environmental activist who specializes in risk assessment for the Navy. “Some families could be sleeping in the middle of the night and there could be a [toxic chemical] release. A lot of people would get hurt.”

Barrett said that environmental studies on the development have not mentioned that more than 2.8 million gallons of hazardous materials pass through the proposed area by rail every year. The site is also several hundred yards from Oxnard’s waste-water treatment plant.

The Baldwin Co. filed for bankruptcy court protection from its creditors in July after its chief lender, General Electric Capital, canceled the company’s revolving line of credit.

The company owes tens of millions of dollars to numerous creditors, including many small construction subcontractors.

In one case, subcontractors on the Baldwin Co.’s Crossing project in Chula Vista took home buyers to court--their only recourse to get paid for their work.

Last month, Baldwin received court approval of a $70-million financing plan to enable the firm to continue operations through the bankruptcy.

Jean Harris of the Ormond Beach Observers, an environmental group that is fighting to preserve the area’s salt marsh habitat, urged city leaders to scrutinize the Baldwin Co.’s development proposals more closely than ever.

“The city’s been burned before with the Radisson hotel and other situations where people did not have the money to do what they said they wanted to do,” she said. “I hope they don’t get burned again.”