Community Property?

It began as a handshake between a father and son during a Sunday night dinner.

The father was a board member of a dying water district looking to sell off its half of 526 acres of prime Orange County wilderness. The son was an administrator of a local school district looking for land for future expansion.

There was only one proviso to the agreement struck by the now-defunct Carpenter Irrigation District on that night in the ecology-conscious 1970s: The Orange Unified School District could have the land for $80,000, if it promised to use it for the education of future generations.

“It was a great deal for everybody,” said Jack Sappington, now 68, who says he can still clearly recall that conversation with his late father. “The full intent was the property be used by the school district for the education of children.”

The deal forced the school district into a marriage of sorts with the Serrano Water District, which owned the other half of the land known as Barham Ranch, a popular wildlife refuge. For years, the relationship was peaceful. But today, both sides are seeking a divorce, citing irreconcilable differences over the land that is now worth millions.

The water district is interested in selling the parcel to developers who want to build tract homes. The school district wants to keep it, possibly for a future school site, or as a preserve where students can learn about nature. Environmentalists want it left as is.

The dispute goes before an Orange County Superior Court judge this fall, and has become so bitter in part because there is little room for compromise. It also illustrates how little open space remains in Orange County, where the last decade’s population growth means the region is nearing what experts call “build-out.”

Back in the 1970s, Barham Ranch seemed the boondocks at best, and half the county remained undeveloped. Today, that figure has been reduced to a third, said Bill Gayk, director of Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Demographic Research.

“After the next 10 years,” predicts Gayk, “there’s not going to be a lot of land available.”

Nestled in the property’s live oaks, coastal sage and willows are as many as two dozen rare and endangered bird species, including the California gnatcatcher, the least Bell’s vireo and the cactus wren. On a recent day, a red tail hawk glided among the ridges, scanning the canyon below.

The area has long been a popular refuge for horseback riders, mountain bikers and hikers alike who traverse its rugged terrain. Bird watching is popular too.

“Once it’s gone, it’ll never be back,” says Marilyn Ganahl, 45, a member of the Orange Park Acres Assn., a group leading the effort to save the land. “What legacy are we leaving here?”

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Located on the outskirts of Villa Park, Anaheim Hills and Orange Park Acres, Barham Ranch features a seemingly limitless supply of roller-coaster-like terrain. It is land that is untouched and unspoiled, surrounded by two county parklands, and a proposed third. Picture a doughnut. Barham Ranch is the hole that links the three together.

A developer has flat-topped the adjacent hills for 1,200 homes, some of which will be occupied by year’s end. That same developer--SunCal Cos.--also has offered $10.4 million for Barham Ranch to build another 600 high-end homes. A proposed road would link them.

It’s this offer that has caused the bad blood between the Serrano Water District and the Orange Unified School District, which has rejected that offer.

Serrano’s motivation to sell is to keep water rates low for its customers, a majority of whom live in nearby Villa Park, says C.L. “Larry” Pharris Jr., president of Serrano’s board of directors.

“It’s like a divorce,” Pharris said of the current legal action. “We’ve had an nonperforming piece of property for approximately 100 years and we wanted to make the best use of it for our rate payers.”

Initially, the school district considered the land for a future school site. But after a recent tour of the property, school board President Terri Sargeant says the land is “more worthy of preservation,” possibly as an educational nature preserve for schoolchildren.

“We didn’t realize there were so many people that care so much about Barham Ranch until we were under the gun to sell it,” she said.

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The recent controversy also revealed the origins of the handshake deal that led to the Barham Ranch purchase--an agreement that was legalized years ago by a judge.

“We are exploring our legal responsibilities” to that initial agreement, Sargeant said, “but I think we have to be aware of our moral and ethical responsibilities.”

Others disagree. Proceeds from the sale could pay for more teachers and more classrooms for the overcrowded district’s 30,000 schoolchildren, says the district’s newly elected union president, John Rossmann.

“They are required to act in the best interest” of the trust given them to make sound decision for our children, Rossmann says, “even if that is different than their . . . personal beliefs.”

The county made overtures to buy the land for preservation a few years back. But its offer--about $2 million--didn’t come close to the land’s appraised value. Now, an Orange County Superior Court judge is expected to decide Barham Ranch’s fate.

The jurist’s options include forcing its sale to SunCal, splitting it in half, or putting it up for auction.

Most say the land cannot be equally divided due to its rugged terrain and because a good chunk of it is flood plain. Accessibility also remains problematic.

Currently, Barham Ranch is accessible only by foot. If developed, a road would have to be built through what is now designated preserved regional county parkland, and would require hard-to-come-by state and federal approvals.

But SunCal spokesman Jason Grange said he is confident the access issue can be resolved.

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SunCal’s offer included building the homes, construction of a new elementary school and expansion of another while retaining the rest of the land--some 336 acres--as open, undeveloped space. Grange said he is puzzled by the school district’s refusal of the proposal, which is worth an estimated $32.2 million.

“I’m still struggling to understand what the school district is looking for. . . . We really believe the interests of the greater community [will be] served by this project,” Grange said.

But Sargeant calls SunCal’s offer “overblown,” fraught with incidentals of no value to the district and strapped with contingencies.

“We weren’t going to see that money” any time soon under the deal, she says. The district also rejected a recent $5-million cash offer from Serrano, payable with money fronted by SunCal.

Instead, the district is hoping that the Trust for Public Land--a nonprofit organization that has saved over 1 million acres of wilderness nationwide--can buy it.

Also taking sides are some members of the Orange City Council--which would have jurisdiction over the land if developed. Two of the five members have opposed tract homes at the site.

“There comes a point where public officials have to realize enough housing is enough housing,” Councilman Dan Slater said.