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Community parking lot shares renegotiated

The local owners of the trust that governs the community parking lot adjacent to the Fallbrook Library are planning to spin off the county’s portion of the lot.

Don McDougal, owner of Grand Tradition Estate and Gardens and trustee of the Fallbrook Parking Trust, said an agreement has been reached with San Diego County – which purchased three out of nine shares in the trust in order to gain the appropriate amount of parking credits for the new library that opened in 2011 – to have the county forfeit its shares in the trust and allow it to take direct ownership of the portion of the lot directly in front of the library.

The reason, McDougal said, is issues that have arisen over the years regarding coordination on things like events and parking lot improvements between the county and the other parking trust shareholders, the rest of whom are all local Fallbrook business owners.

The parking trust was first formed back in 1959 to ensure adequate parking would be available for shoppers in downtown Fallbrook, according to McDougal. In 1981, the trust was given a 40-year extension, set to expire in December 2021.

Problems arose, though, when the county purchased its three shares in the parking trust – according to McDougal, the county was unwilling to extend the trust past its 2021 expiration date.

If the trust were allowed to expire, each individual shareholder would be able to fence off and restrict their own sections of the lot.

“If it goes away,” McDougal said, “then all of the owners can say, ‘well I want my part. And then they can do whatever they want with it and that’s not for the benefit of the community, that’s not what we want.”

He said that after some attempts at negotiation, the county agreed to give up its shares in the parking trust and take full ownership of the library’s section of the parking lot. That agreement also stipulates the county will be granted an unassigned easement for 10 spaces in the rest of the lot to meet parking requirements for the library.

No money will be exchanged as part of the agreement.

The matter was expected to go before the county Board of Supervisors in December; however, McDougal said, the agreement was pulled from the supervisors’ agenda when some trust shareholders expressed a desire to seek greater clarity on the terms of the agreement. It’s now expected to go before the Board of Supervisors next month, according to McDougal.

A county official did not respond to requests for comment on the matter by press time.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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