Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Pond project may get more land

A representative from Blue Sky Timber Properties, who has authority over the land surrounding Gurdon Pond Number Two, said he will approach his land owners about selling approximately 75 acres of timberland around the pond to Gurdon "or maybe even work something out on a donation basis to help the project."

Jerry Porter, land transactions representative for Blue Sky out of Texarkana, Texas, told Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin, pond advocate Tommy Potter and State Rep. Tommy Roebuck at a meeting in City Hall, "The land you want belongs to Blue Sky, and that is my jurisdiction."

Porter said International Paper goes through Blue Sky to sell land. He said the value of the land is affected by its access to Gurdon, but "since this is a municipal project we will use as many discounts as possible."

Potter said the land involved was part of the hopes and dreams several shared who favored the completion of the four-year-old lake restoration project.

"If we have to settle for less, say 35 acres, that would still be great," Potter said.

The group had originally asked for 50 acres. Porter indicated that might be voluntarily increased, depending on how the acreage could be conveniently squared off.

"The first step is to look at this and decide which property you want of the 1,589 acres out there," he said.

"For us, the easiest way is to show the section lines."

Porter said Blue Sky has outside financial backers who did not invest to give the land away. This limits a straight donation approach.

However, Porter suggested to the mayor that Gurdon furnish a Water Department letter condemning the land mass the city would like to acquire.

"We will take this and use it as a tool to do better on the price, rather than see it as a threat," Porter said.

"Once everything is in place; we have our letter and exact land description, we could close a deal in six weeks to two months."

Franklin said Gurdon can not cross the railroad tracks for the lake because Union Pacific uses it for trains passing by each other.

Roebuck suggested the Cabe Foundation or the Ross Foundation as possible funding sources to buy the extra lake land.

"We will look at a total price on the land we determine, rather than a price per acre," Porter said.

"We will try and move forward as quickly as we can. As long as its Blue Sky, this deal is a lot my call."

Gurdon Pond Number Two was active and full of water from around 1936-1990, when it was drained.

The refurbishing of the lake's levy etc., and its refilling, was delayed by the government because of priorities of funding.

Gurdon Pond Number Two has been promoted by Potter, Roebuck and more interested citizens for approximately four years.

An engineer's estimate of $314,000 is needed to get the lake functional again. The best argument to the government for seeing the project through is the lake would make a good secondary water source for Gurdon, which the town needs in its future.

"It was a great place to catch bass and will be a wonderful fishing hole again," Potter said. "Plus, we are trying to get a primitive camp ground developed for churches and other groups to use."

Roebuck said, "Gurdon does need a back-up water source. It is an economic thing for this town. It looks like it would be simple to just go out there and fill back up that hole. But we have found out, it does not work like that now."

Roebuck is meeting with Congressman Mike Ross, who will try and market Gurdon Pond Number Two to political allies in Washington, D.C., as a city water source project needing funding.

"We need to do this project now," Roebuck said. "The land needs to be added to what we are doing before any possible sale of Gurdon IP occurs."