Nonprofit Trust for Public Land is acquiring Ferrini Ranch to transfer to Big Sur Land Trust.

For conservationists, the dream of preserving Ferrini Ranch, an approximately 870-acre property that straddles Toro Park along Highway 68, has been in the ether for decades, long before the County Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, approved a development on the property in 2014.

That approval was subsequently litigated on grounds that it didn’t comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, but the lawsuits – there were three – also stopped the clock on the deadline for the developer to start the project within two years.

After the litigation was resolved, the clock again started ticking, and in 2022, the supervisors voted 4-1 to approve a six-year extension for the development rights. As far as proposed developments go, it’s had a cat-like number of lives.

But it turns out the development – which proposed 185 residential lots – isn’t likely going to happen, as nonprofit Trust for Public Land was expected to close a deal on Dec. 18, after the Weekly went to print, with developer Mark Kelton to acquire the property for $14 million.

TPL’s appraisal for the land is over $25 million. In 2021, the property was listed at over $35 million.

“These things are really hard to put together,” says Christy Fischer, TPL’s Northern California coastal conservation director, who’s also a Carmel Valley resident.

“In every community there are a few exceptional properties that contribute in important ways to the health of the land,” she says, “and this property, Ferrini Ranch, is one of them.”

In her view, the most critical aspect of the land going into conservation is to preserve the wildlife corridor on the half of the property southwest of Toro Park, near San Benancio Canyon, which connects the Sierra de Salinas with the Fort Ord National Monument. That corridor helps piece together a series of acquisitions in recent decades in the Sierra de Salinas that nearly cover its entire crest.

TPL plans to later transfer the land to local nonprofit Big Sur Land Trust for long-term stewardship. Jeannette Tuitele-Lewis, BSLT’s executive director, and Rachel Saunders, its vice president of conservation, are also thrilled. Tuitele-Lewis says it’s a property BSLT has long had its eyes on, but it couldn’t make a deal happen to acquire it, and asked for TPL’s help. She calls the property a “pinch point” in wildlife connectivity. Saunders adds, “This is the linchpin property. If we lost this property, it wouldn’t get reclaimed again.”

BSLT expects it will take about two years to raise $15.5 million to pay back TPL for the acquisition, and to cover stewardship.

TPL is bankrolling the acquisition through a loan from the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County’s Central Coast Climate and Conservation Action Fund.

Asked why he decided to sell at a discount, Kelton writes, “Our family has a long history with this property. While it had been our intent to develop this into a unique and special neighborhood, we also have a strong affection for natural beauty and we are very happy to find a long-term opportunity to see this special property conserved.”

TPL and BSLT, Kelton adds, “do a wonderful job of taking care of important places.”