By Clarence Cromwell
A citizens group, made up partly of people who defeated the Lexington golf course a year ago, met last week to put a stop to logging and development on an adjacent 940-acre tract owned by Hong Kong Metro, Inc.
Friends of Bear Creek Redwoods Regional Preserve convened at the Los Gatos Neighborhood Center Feb. 10 and made plans to try buying the property, in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Lexington Reservoir, and converting it to a nature preserve. About 50 people attended the meeting.
The group hopes to raise both public and private funds.
Big Creek Forester Eric Huff confirmed that the company intends to log redwoods and Douglas fir trees on 900 acres of Hong Kong Metro land. The necessary environmental studies and planning, which could last several months, should be under way before the beginning of March, he said.
Huff told the community center group that the company uses gentle harvesting methods, would try to halt erosion and would not cut along Bear Creek Road.
Clearly all those who attended favored leaving the property as it is.
Several in the audience talked of the "mess" that has been left at other tree-cutting sites, including one still visible from Old Santa Cruz Highway, about half a mile down the hill from Summit Road.
Hong Kong Metro's development plan is unrelated to the logging.
The planned development, which could contain as many as 36 homes, is currently in limbo, according to Pat Murphy, an associate planner for Santa Clara County.
Hong Kong Metro withdrew its application for a general plan amendment after a California Supreme Court decision paved the way for the developer to arrange parcels and houses into neighborhood clusters without the amendment--if it puts half as many houses on the property. If 36 houses are built under the current general plan, they must be spread throughout the property on huge lots.
The developer appears to be weighing its options, Murphy said.
Huff, of Big Creek, said logging won't be done on parts of the land where Hong Kong Metro expects to build houses.
Bob Aldrich contributed to this story.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.