School Wants to Build on Parcel, but Opponents Say It Was Guaranteed as Open Space in 1893 Pact : Residents, College Locked in Land Dispute With Roots in 19th Century

For decades, Pomona College administrators viewed an undeveloped half block on the school’s western border as just an ordinary empty lot.

But in 1991, when the school proposed constructing a new building on the five-acre parcel, some Claremont residents had a different idea. An agreement dating from 1893, they said, guarantees that the parcel be preserved as open space.

Under the agreement, residents say, the college pledged to set aside the five acres as a public park as a condition of receiving the property from a defunct land development company and receiving donations from residents who wanted to help build a library.

The parcel, residents say, is a precious oasis bordering the the Village, Claremont’s affluent downtown shopping area, and the adjacent, largely pedestrian neighborhood that surrounds Pomona College.

But Pomona College spokeswoman Nina Ellerman said there was never an agreement to leave the land undeveloped in perpetuity. And though the library has since been relocated to another building on campus, she said the college has continued to allow residents and students from other Claremont Colleges access to it.

But some residents say that’s not good enough.

In 1992, a group called Citizens to Save Our Village filed a lawsuit seeking to save the land from development. After a Superior Court judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial, the citizens took the fight to the Court of Appeal, where the issue was argued in a hearing earlier this month. A ruling is expected within a month.

“This is about holding the college responsible for the promises it has made to the people of Claremont,” said Gus May, the group’s lawyer.

The college had hoped to build the Hahn Building of Social Sciences, a two-story structure on Harvard Avenue near College Avenue, to alleviate crowding in the Carnegie Building on the east side of the property, Ellerman said.

Four lifelong Claremont residents, however, filed suit to stop the move. John McCarthy, 72; Bob Stafford, 74; Charles Chase, 80, and Ray Fowler, 65, say they have received support from hundreds of residents since the complaint was filed. In addition, 10 supporters gave depositions describing how the space provides a place to walk their dogs or watch birds; some said college presidents over an 80-year period have promised that the land would not be developed.

McCarthy, an attorney, said he has found old documents, including maps and photographs, showing that in 1893, Pacific Land Improvement Co. gave Pomona College land to build part of its campus, but instructed the school to preserve the disputed block as a public park. The agreement also required the school to turn the block over to city government if the Claremont community incorporated, McCarthy said.

In 1902, McCarthy said, the school president, seeking funding for a new library, contacted Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist known for his gifts to build public libraries nationwide. Carnegie agreed to donate $40,000 on the condition that the building be accessible to the community and a portion of the adjacent land be made a public park.

In 1908, McCarthy alleges, the agreement with the company was violated. The city of Claremont incorporated that year--but the college failed to turn over the property to the new city government as promised, he said.

In 1952, the college breached the agreement with Carnegie by converting the building into a social science facility and moving the library elsewhere on campus.

And McCarthy said the school continues to disregard its promises with the current plan to develop the west side of the block.

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But according to Ellerman, the recent court ruling found that since a 1908 college development plan first identified the west side as a possible building site, it was unlikely that at the same time the college intended to dedicate the land to public use.

The court also found, Ellerman said, that the agreement applied to the east side of the property, and not to the west, where the school wants to erect the new building.

In addition, Ellerman said, the college has kept its promise to provide the community access to its library. And the court found that even if there were verbal promises made, they were not legally binding, she said.

“Promises were not made,” Ellerman said. “They’ve lost every step of the way.”

Among Claremont residents, reaction to the dispute has been mixed.

“I never use [the land] and I never would,” said Arthur Hollaway, an accountant who has lived in the area on and off for 40 years.

Said resident Zannell Blahut: “I just don’t like to see trees cut down--but that’s a different story.”