Pioneer Family Criticizes Plan to Move House

Clearing the way for the last big ranch in the San Gabriel Valley to become a 400-acre industrial park, Industry has approved plans to move a vacant, historic mansion built by a local pioneer from the spread.

For nearly a century, the imposing and somewhat rundown Craftsman home--built by former Sheriff Alvan Currier--has sat untouched by rampant development, which has converted Industry from scrawny farmland to a paradise of business.

But now Currier’s descendants say that plans to move the landmark residence and allow Staples Center developer Edward Roski Jr. to build the industrial park is going too far.

“They’re just trying to get rid of this pioneer home because it is in the way of making money. It’s greed,” said Karen Powell, a Currier descendant who has formed the Coalition to Save the Currier Ranch. The ad-hoc citizens group claims a dozen members, including several members of the Pomona Historic Society.

City officials say they are not demolishing the structure but are trying to protect it at a “very substantial expense.”

“We are preserving, not destroying,” said City Atty. Michele Vadon, adding that officials are more than willing to give the home and its carriage house, bunkhouse and barn to any organization that wants it.

Vadon said the city has plenty of lots where it can place the home but has offered it to Cal Poly Pomona, which has been lukewarm about accepting the gift.

She said the city would even be willing to sell the homestead for as little as a dollar to a preservation group.

Located on Old Ranch Road, where the Pomona and Orange freeways meet, the 10,000-square-foot home is on a peninsula of prairie about half an hour from downtown.

An island surrounded by concrete, the 400-acre swath is the only buildable holdover in Industry from an era when cows grazed freely and cowboys roamed. The house was built in 1908 by Currier, who was also a state senator.

The three-story home has many Craftsman features--a sleeping porch, a Mission-style interior and ornate carved fireplaces, said Marion M. Hocking, Currier’s great-niece, who lived in the house until she was married in 1952.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous with 21 rooms,” she said. “There are three staircases and all the wood carving was done by hand.”

The mansion came into municipal ownership when Hocking’s mother sold it, without restriction, to a third party, who then sold it to railroads. The city acquired the property from the Union Pacific in the early 1980s.

Even then, it remained untouched as it became the stomping grounds of rancher John Ferrero, who served as Industry’s mayor from the date of incorporation in 1957 until he died in 1996.

Ferrero’s use of the ranch was noted during an investigation into redevelopment by the 1985 county grand jury, which discovered that the late mayor had leased the land for his cattle at no cost. The grand jury review came amid a federal corruption probe that led to the conviction of one of the city’s founders, James M. Stafford, for orchestrating a kickback and bid-rigging scheme. Ferrero wasn’t implicated or charged in the scheme.

As it happens, Ferrero’s son--Councilman John P. Ferrero--now lives on the property in a mobile home and continues to graze cattle there, according to city officials, who declined to say what, if anything, Ferrero pays for using the land. Ferrero didn’t return telephone calls seeking comment.

Ferrero joined his four colleagues Jan. 13 in a unanimous vote to move the mansion after the council concluded that doing so would pose no harm to the environment.

Council members chose not to demolish the structure on the advice of an architectural historian who was hired by the city and concluded that the mansion qualified for state and federal historic status. In a written report, historian Jeanette McKenna said state law required that the structure be saved, even if it meant being moved to a new location.

Those who oppose the move, however, maintain that the council vote was tainted by Ferrero’s participation. They say the fact that he lives on the land poses a conflict of interest--an accusation that City Atty. Vadon says is unfounded.

Opponents also charge that the January council vote was flawed because it didn’t follow state law by requiring an environmental impact report about the house removal. Vadon said city officials complied with all the appropriate laws.

The fate of the house became an issue because the city’s redevelopment agency, which owns the 400-acre spread, agreed to lease it to Roski’s Majestic Realty Co. His company plans to develop a large industrial park on the property.

Majestic officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Under state law, the city can begin dismantling the historic structure Feb. 13, exactly one month after the vote.