December 7, 2006

State offers to pay to keep dairies from historic park 
               

By OLIVIA MUNOZ, Bakersfield California

The state is willing to buy the development rights from a businessman who wants to build two dairies near the only park in the state founded by black pioneers, officials said Tuesday.

"It's a very special park. It's part of our history, and we're willing to explore ways to protect it," said Scott Wassmund, a spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

The state parks department proposed paying businessman Sam Etchegaray to build a buffer between his proposed dairies and Col. Allensworth State Historical Park, which features the late 19th century settlement started by a handful of black pioneers.

Environmentalists and other opponents of the proposed dairies - which could hold about 12,000 animals - worry that the cows will bring flies, foul smells and pollution to the park and the nearby community of Allensworth.

Etchegaray is not opposed to selling some of the development rights, but there needs to be more discussion on the issue, said his attorney David Albers.

Under the proposed idea, Etchegaray still would own the property and could use it for agriculture, but not for large developments such as dairies or poultry processing plants, Wassmund said.

The state has bought easements to keep housing developments away from other parks, he said.
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors first must grant Etchegaray a special permit to build the dairies, which he has sought since 1996. They postponed their vote Tuesday after the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment presented them with new environmental information to consider.