Water District Joins Barham Talks

The Serrano Water District’s directors voted Friday to negotiate with Orange County and the Orange Unified School District to sell the water agency’s half interest of Barham Ranch, 525 acres of wilderness that it co-owns with the school district.

The school board voted Thursday night to offer to buy the water district’s share, then work with the county and city of Orange to swap the land for sites where schools can be built.

“We know now the school district is interested,” said David Noyes, the water district’s general manager. “With the county, we are just waiting to hear.”

County Supervisor Todd Spitzer proposed last month to have Orange County buy Barham Ranch for $4 million and preserve the property, a popular recreation area, as open space.

The school board also supports leaving the land undeveloped if it can work out a deal for other new campus sites. If land cannot be found, district officials said, they might have to build at Barham Ranch, which borders Santiago Oaks, Weir Canyon and Irvine regional parks.

“We want to protect school sites and potential school sites if possible,” said Linda Davis, the school board president. “Our best option at this point is to acquire land and hopefully leverage it, now or later, for school sites. That has always been our focus.”

Spitzer said he will continue to seek county property to swap with the school district and will meet with the water district next week to clarify Serrano’s desire to sell its half interest.