Auction is set for selling tax-delinquent properties at Diablo Grande. ‘It has been a mess’
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office is preparing for a foreclosure sale of Diablo Grande properties with $13.7 million in delinquent Mello-Roos district taxes.
The required public notices for the upcoming sale cover eight pages of the Thursday, July 13, Modesto Bee.
The Western Hills Water District, which provides water and other services for residents of Diablo Grande, southwest of Patterson, prevailed in a Superior Court decision Jan. 19 against Angels Crossing LLC and World International LLC.
Angels Crossing acquired the financially troubled development from World International in May 2020. The developer has been far behind on paying assessments on 14 parcels, while World International still owns most of the Ranch Golf Course and hasn’t paid the special taxes, according to the court decision.
Western Hills filed suit in June 2021 asking for a judicial foreclosure and the case was heard in Stanislaus Superior Court.
Sgt. Wade Carr of the Sheriff’s Office civil division said the public notices are to make sure no one else has a monetary interest in the properties before the sale, which is set for Aug. 4.
No structures are on the 13 properties listed in Thursday’s notice, Carr said. A separate notice is being prepared for two other parcels that have structures on them.
The Angels Crossing properties headed for auction include undeveloped land north of the Ranch Golf Course and the community entrance; holes 1-2 and 16-18 of the Ranch course; undeveloped land north, west and east of that golf course; a vineyard and once-proposed hotel site; undeveloped land and an old runway; the clubhouse and parts of the Legends Golf Course; and other land surrounded by the Ranch course.
The sale also will include holes 3 to 15 of the Ranch course owned by World International. Both of the dried-up golf courses are closed. A top official for Western Hills did not return messages Wednesday.
Diablo Grande never reached its proposed grand scale
Diablo Grande was once proposed as a large golf and convention mecca with thousands of homes, but two golf courses and only 600 houses were built. The original developers went into bankruptcy court in 2008 and then World International acquired the project.
Angels Crossing acquired the master agreement for the Diablo Grande development three years ago and assumed liabilities. Diablo Grande residents have said the developer didn’t follow through on promises to pay for services and further develop the resort.
Attorney June Coleman, representing Angels Crossing, countered Wednesday that the developer would have built homes if it had more cooperation from the Western Hills district.
Coleman explained that World had an agreement to loan money to Western Hills, which provided water for homeowners until enough homes were built for a self-supporting water service. Coleman said Western Hills owed $17 million to World under the loan agreement and Angels inherited that deal.
The Sacramento attorney said Western Hills would not agree to approve water service for homes built by Angels Crossing. “It is an unfortunate situation where homeowners are paying really high water bills when Western Hills could have worked cooperatively with Angels Crossing,” Coleman said.
A county-approved amendment to the development plan in 2017 would allow for 2,354 additional homes at Diablo Grande.
Carr said the Sheriff’s Office conducted a sale of other delinquent properties for Western Hills in February. Notices are being prepared for an additional 63 delinquent parcels, he said.
“It has been a mess,” Carr said.
