Planners will do aerial surveys of Croy Fire area to find
illegal structures
Many of the residents who lost their homes in the Croy Road fire
moved to the isolated hills above Morgan Hill to escape the radar
of the county. They built their homes, often without permits, and
lived without county officials monitoring their activities.
Planners will do aerial surveys of Croy Fire area to find illegal structures
Many of the residents who lost their homes in the Croy Road fire moved to the isolated hills above Morgan Hill to escape the radar of the county. They built their homes, often without permits, and lived without county officials monitoring their activities.
Now they are literally being put back on the map as county officials take aerial photographs and use global positioning surveys to determine the location of all structures and debris hidden amid the rugged terrain. The county is attempting to locate all of the structures built off the grid so that they can force residents to obtain the required building permits or face having their homes razed.
“Maybe I won’t be able to rebuild if I have to get a lot of money for a permit because I can’t even afford anything to build with, let a lone a permit,” said fire victim Tom King.
Before the biggest fire there in 80 years, county officials had turned a blind eye to the homes located on the 10-mile loop at 7900 Croy Road. Lacking the manpower needed to patrol the area, the county only responded if a complaint was made.
Most of the residents built un-permitted homes because of the difficulties they had obtaining permits. There were too many loopholes that stood in their way, such as the dirt road that winds its’ away around the mountain that isn’t graded or wide enough to meet safety requirements.
Instead of putting their dreams on hold, residents built homes and lived peacefully off the county’s grid – until the fire.
Longtime resident Roy Guist said the only two permitted structures on the hill are the narrow wooden bridge off of Uvas Road and a small shed that houses electrical units, both of which he oversaw the construction of.
Even though Guist was able to obtain permits for the bridge and shed, he found it more difficult to get his house permitted.
“I had applied for permits a long time ago, but it didn’t look like they were going to be able to grant permits because of the terrain and roads and so on,” Guist said. “Everyone had been building very carefully without permits so I just sort of fell into that.”
Ever since the fire destroyed Guist’s home, he has been going to the county offices every week applying for site approval so he can begin the rebuilding process. He hasn’t had much luck.
“I hoped after meeting with (Supervisor) Don Gage that they would help us out more,” Guist said. “It doesn’t look terribly encouraging. I don’t know how much latitude they have even if they want to be nicer.”
Guist, who worked for the government for more than 30-years as an aerospace engineer at NASA, says he understands the dilemma of the county. They want to help the residents, but they can’t compromise public safety by overlooking the permit issue.
“I don’t have much of a quarrel; I know what their mission is. I’m just hoping they can find a way to cut us a little slack,” Guist said.
Steve Slusser moved to Croy Road 20 years ago to escape the arm of county government. Slusser was evicted from his East Palo Alto home, where he lived with nine rescued dogs, which exceeded the county’s limits for pets. Slusser was fined $800 with the understanding he had to leave San Mateo County within six months.
He packed up his dogs and bought 48-acres where he and his dogs could live without complaints. He spent 11-years building an un-permitted home, which survived the fire.
The 63-year-old Vietnam Veteran says he has tried applying for building permits, but has never received them. Now that the county is cracking down on un-permitted homes in the area of the fire, Slusser says he is willing to work with them to bring his house up to standards.
“I’ve always thought this area was ready to grow up.” Slusser said. “We need to be like any other part of the city of Mogan Hill.”
Currently Santa Clara County Supervisor Gage, who represents the area that was devastated by the fire, is working with the county administration to try to waive building permit fees for residents that constructed their homes legally. As for the rest of the homes and the residents that lost their dwellings, the county is still looking into the issue.
“There was a lot of stuff that nobody knew about up there until the fire came through,” said Rachael Gibson, the land use policy aid for Gage. “Now that we know about it we can’t turn our backs. We’re not going to go out and red tag everyone and we’re not going to go out and hunt people down, but if somebody blows the whistle on them we’re bound by law to go out and investigate.”
Supervisors did decide this week not to sue the owners of a solar power system that is believed to have caused the fire. The wildfire burned more than 3,000 acres of land and more than 30 structures in the Uvas Canyon area on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The board contemplated suing the owners because they did not get a permit for the power system.
The board’s decision came because it’s likely the system’s owners lost everything in the blaze, said Gage. And while the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has said the power system started the fire on Sept. 23, investigators have not pinpointed what exactly went wrong.
As far as permits go, Tom King is taking things one day at a time since he lost his home and his livelihood to the fire and has been forced to start his life over from scratch.
King moved to Croy Road because he enjoyed the solitude of the mountain and being away from people, but he never felt like he had completely escaped the county’s grasp.
“Every month I had to set aside $120 just to pay taxes. That’s the way it is for county services and stuff like that. Even though we don’t get any up here, there’s still paved roads they have to pay for,” King said.
King does not closely follow what the county is planning to do regarding permit issues; he is more interested in fixing the trailer that friends recently gave to him as he tries to put his life back in order.
“No one had a backup plan,” said Carl Taylor, after visiting with King, filling him in on the latest developments within the county. “Usually when you move you take your time and fill up boxes, but here we just went ploop.”
Taylor, who lost his home, keeps abreast of the issues and spent Tuesday telling neighbors about a plan the county is putting together to give residents free gravel and other materials to prevent a wash out when the weak soil begins to erode with the winter rains.
The zoning department has also been scouring the mountain, identifying sites where there are large amounts of salvage and debris. They hope to install a program to help facilitate the removal of the garbage, some of which has built up for over 20 years.
In the meantime residents are trying to get on with their lives. Despite the changes that may be in store, none harbors thoughts of leaving.
“I was always bothered by the fact that we were not a ‘quote’ legal home,” Guist said. “The county refers to the homes as ‘illegal structures,’ but the other side to that is it’s a loving home with a family.”
