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On March 10 we finalized the purchase of the two new acres at Hidalgo Falls, so now some of the property immediately adjacent to the rapid is owned by TRPA. It will provide paddlers an even more convenient access to the river….
Now just when you thought things were calming down regarding the purchase of property at Hidalgo....
Johnny Orlando, one of the three sons, currently owns the six acres immediately upstream from the two acres we just acquired. He now wants to sell us four of his acres, the parcel immediately adjacent to our new property. It is the property overlooking the rapid. It is, no doubt, the best property we have had a chance to acquire thus far. To see an aerial photo, go to
http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/johnny.html
It has some big trees and, with work, could look as nice as our downstream property. Because Tommy Orlando (the son who owns the 8 acres between our downstream property and the newly acquired two acres at the rapid) has no plans to sell his land ever, I suspect that as paddlers start using the better access provided by our new two acres at the rapid, the lower property will be used less and less.
Johnny is willing to accept $10K per acre from us (because his mother, Gerry, has put in a good word for us), though he has already been offered (depending on how much is initially put down) between $12K and $15K/acre. We will have to pay for the survey dividing his property, but since the surveyor already has most of the information in his computer, it will not be as much as if we had to start from scratch. So that we won't have to do this all over again in two or three years, we will put in the contract with him an Option to Purchase his remaining two acres within the next ten years (if he decides to sell) for $10K/ac.
Of course, we don't have $40K+ now, and Johnny wants to have this completed within the next three months. I have talked to Pat Guseman, the woman who recently bought the 18 acre tract downstream and adjacent to our lower property, and she is willing to buy our property from the entrance gate to the lower property (slightly little less than three acres) for $10K/ac. If she buys the property, she would probably also spend a fair amount of money improving the entrance road from the highway.
That means that we would have to come up with a bit more than $10K--some of which has already been pledged--(unless, of course, there is a groundswell of support for retaining the lower three acres by people who want to contribute $30K to TRPA). If you think we should retain the three acres (and have the money to back up your desire), please let us know now before we proceed much further with Pat Guseman. We have to move on this rather soon, because Johnny needs the money and will probably jump at his first solid offer.
I know this is beginning to sound like this whole Hidalgo Falls thing will never end. It just happens that it is happening more quickly than we originally imagined, and in fits and spurts. If you go to the aerial photo mentioned above, you will see that if we sell the lower property and purchase Johnny's four acres, our property will be more consolidated and our ultimate goal (of acquiring one solid piece of property) will be cut down to 19.7 acres (of which we will already own 13 acres). If we hold onto the lower property, we do so with the expectation of someday acquiring Tommy's eight acres. That would be wonderful, and if we thought we could do it, we should definitely try to do so. Once we give up this land, it is probably gone for good (after all, Tanie Orlando owned his property for fifty years, and given the unique character of the spot, the cost of the land will never be this low again even if it is ever sold). But that means coming up with $40K now. The question is can we, should we do it? And who will step up with that kind of cash now?
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