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Late Danville resident Armand Borel’s vision of an agricultural park on the now-abandoned walnut orchard that was passed down through generations of his family is coming closer to fruition nearly 15 years after his death, with the park district announcing a milestone in their plans for the property.
Officials with the East Bay Regional Park District said on April 11 that they’d finalized the sale and property transfer of a 7.28-acre portion of the 17-acre property at Camino Ramon and Fostoria Way in Danville to Trumark Homes for a planned housing development for $32 million.
While the sale of a historic property to developers might not seem like a step toward conservation of the area as a park, EBRPD officials are calling the move a milestone given that the funds generated by the sale mean the district is able to pay off debts incurred by the late Borel’s trust, including those owed by the trust following loans from the district to prevent foreclosure of the property, amounting to $9.5 million with interest and putting the district in a financial position to move forward with longstanding plans for a park on the property.
“The sale of the property is a major step that lets us move forward in providing public access to the future park, which we expect will be both a local and regional asset,” said John Mercurio, EBRPD director for Ward 6. “Obtaining the Borel Property and opening it up for public access and agricultural interpretation and education has been a longtime goal of the Park District and my predecessor on the Park District Board of Directors, Beverly Lane.”
Mercurio was elected to the seat vacated by Lane’s retirement in 2022 after 28 years on the board, during which she was a well-known champion of the agricultural park.
While Borel left the property to the district upon his death with the explicit intent of having it be preserved for education and exploration about the valley’s agricultural history, financial and legal challenges posed by Borel’s trust meant that a decade passed before the district received the title for the property in 2019.
“The proceeds from the sale of the property will cover debts and provide funds toward making the park accessible and open for the community,” EBRPD General Manager Sabrina Landreth said. “We accepted the Borel Property with the understanding that a sale of a portion of the property would be needed to pay off pre existing debts and support development of the agricultural park.”
The district subsequently entered into an agreement of intent with Trumark in 2020, with the company beginning the application process for a housing development in 2021. Earlier this year, the Danville Planning Commission approved a 167-housing unit proposal from Trumark for their recently acquired piece of the property.
With the sale and property transfer completed as of March 27, developers and EBRPD officials are both set to move forward with the planned housing project and the agricultural park respectively.
“We are excited that staff can now begin visioning and planning for what the park can look like for visitors and how it can best serve the public,” Landreth said.
The first steps of that will consist of an assessment of existing facilities and structures on the property and how they might be used as planning for the park moves forward.
