::: COMMUNITY NEWS

	Murieta resident Paul Frank is buying the 220-acre property at Stonehouse and Jackson roads and plans to build a home there.

220 acres on Stonehouse Road being purchased by Murieta resident

Published Monday, September 22, 2003

It's no wonder that the 220 acres of land on Stonehouse Road across the street from Stonehouse Park piques people's curiosity.

This is the property that seemed destined to be the location of the community's next reservoir until the deal fell through two and a half years ago. The training center for the Operating Engineers announced plans to turn it into a training ground instead. That news was greeted with howls of protest about the dust and noise that would be created.

Now the property is on the verge of being sold to Rancho Murieta resident Paul Frank. Escrow is scheduled to close at the end of the month. The property is owned by Operating Engineers Local 3.

"I've been wanting to be on property for years," said Frank, who declined to disclose the price."We've never built on acreage before."

Frank and his wife, Cindy, bought property in Rancho Murieta in 1988 and moved here in 1995. Their home on De La Cruz Drive is the second home they've built. They live there with their two children, Beau, 9, and Olivia, 1½.

Initially, Cindy didn't want to move to Rancho Murieta from Elk Grove, says her husband. Now she and Beau don't want to leave.

Which is why the couple decided to purchase the property on Stonehouse. "It's as far outside the gates as they'd let me go," Frank remarked. The couple had owned 100 acres along Dillard Road, but it was too far away for Cindy.

"We're real happy with what we ended up with," he said.

The topography of the land is part of its appeal for the couple. As the land rises, the view extends to the Sierra and "all the way to Mt. Diablo," Frank said. There is also an irrigation pond on the property, which is primarily grazing land.

Cindy Frank said, "We can build the house that we want -- it will be fun. We’re excited."

Paul Frank, who's in commercial development, has no plans to develop the property, which consists of four 55-acre parcels that have been on the market for years.

The options as he sees them at this time are to keep all the parcels or possibly sell up to three parcels. "Several people have expressed an interest in buying," he explained.

There could be a total of only four houses on the property -- one per parcel -- because "the zoning is not in conformance with the general plan," he said.

Although the Agriculture-20 zoning on the property allows one single-family dwelling unit per 20 acres, the county general plan designation for the property calls for one single-family unit per 50-acre parcel, he said. It would take an amendment to the general plan to allow building on parcels smaller than 50 acres. "The thought of 20-acre parcels or even 10 is interesting, but not necessarily anything I’d undertake at this time. That’s not my intent," he said.

Frank acknowledged that the Community Services District approached him about the reservoir it had planned to locate there, but he said only that it was "a possibility."

What isn't a possibility is a school, although those are the rumors he heard after a rig showed up to drill a test well on the property. People assumed it was the Elk Grove Unified School District doing its due diligence for an alternative site for an elementary school, Frank explained.

Actually, it was his due diligence. The property is located outside the district, which means there won't be CSD water and sewer hook-ups. But as it turns out, there is ample well water, which fulfills the last contingency of the sales agreement, Frank said.