84-acre Albion Headlands for sale, 16 houses or preserve? Will public access to the oceanfront ever return to Albion? Attend a Monday, June 9 public meeting to hear from Land Trust, Realtor
(This article has been built with the help of crowd sourcing and I encourage people to continue and to click for updates.)
Albion’s headlands, home to cattle for more than a century, is now up for sale and being advertised as being legally able to allow 16 separate residential parcels. The property is for sale for just under $7 million. The towering headlands dwarf the town and the property also includes a row of tiny lots along Spring Grove Road. This property has been for sale before. An upscale hotel was proposed on the property in the 1970s, when it was owned by others. Bruce and Suzanne Smith purchased the property in 1987 and it has been in the Smith family for the past 38 years. It is currently leased to a cattle operator and has been a cattle ranch for more than a century, locals told me. The attached old newspapers show it being announced as sold to state parks by the Smith family in 2001, but for whatever reason, that sale did not go through. But this is the first time I know of that the property has been advertised publicly like this as a public real estate listing, with a dramatic “for sale” video. There is an abandoned car repair garage and restaurant and eatery along the road, but those are not part of the ranch.
The overall zoning map from the county shows two large parcels and 14 tiny parcels, all marked RMR 40 zoning (remote residential district). That means only single-family houses are permitted. The county and California Coastal Commission both require a full acre and many other rules, so it’s hard to see how this conflict can be resolved and how those tiny lots could ever be developed.
The 84-acre property, located west of the Albion River Bridge, is also called the Albion Headlands. Realtor Justin Nadeau, who has listed the property for sale, describes how rare and how spectacular the land is in this video.
The Mendocino Land Trust is leading the charge to save the stunning property, higher bluffs and untrod by any but cattle for the past century. A community meeting has been scheduled for Monday at the Whitesboro Grange.
Albion’s activist for half a century, Tom Wodetzki, has alerted the community and set up a public meeting at the grange, located up on the Navarro Ridge. It is found by turning east off State Route 1 just south of the Salmon Creek Bridge.
Tom’s MCN Listserve posting; “Hello neighbor. Since the 84-acre south Albion Headlands property came up for sale recently, there’s lots of citizen interest in seeing that it ends up as coastal public access and not as part-time vacation homes for wealthy outsiders. Fortunately, the Mendocino Land Trust has put in offers to buy it (though they would still have to raise $6+million), and its director wrote to me ‘We would be happy to meet in Albion to give interested residents an update,” Wodetzki wrote.
“So I’ve booked the Whitesboro Grange on Navarro Ridge Road for a public meeting Monday, June 9th, 5:30-7pm, where we can ask questions of the realtor marketing the property, Justin Nadeau, and two Mendocino Land Trust staffers, Conrad Kramer and Emily Griffin, and then discuss if and how we might want to influence in whose hands this property ends up and how it will be used.”
“All are invited. If you’re interested, join us and spread the word about this meeting: Monday, June 9th, from 5:30-7 pm at the Whitesboro Grange. Thank you,” Wodetzki concluded.
Wodetzki has led many community education and improvement efforts, ranging from bringing top flight speakers to the Alliance for Democracy meeting in Fort Bragg a decade ago to the renovation of the last glorious vestigate of the original oceanfront town of Navarro, Captain Fletcher’s Inn
The public offering of the property comes just as Caltrans is finalizing plans to replace the Albion River Bridge and the Salmon Creek Bridge. The two bridges bookend the property. All of Albion’s free public access to its beaches has now been cut off by private parties and Caltrans has so far refused to consider helping open up public access and has stated that is NOT part of the bridge projects, even though the California Coastal Commission demands improved public access anytime property in the Coastal Zone is disrupted. However, the authority is being attacked currently.
The property has more than a mile of coastline, all of which has been inaccessible due to the Smith Ranch ownership and gates being locked to all but people owning property between the public lands of the beach itself and the nearest roads.
The real estate ad for the property states there are “16 Separate Legal Parcels zoned for Residential Development. Extensive studies and improvements have been completed on the property, which allow for a more streamlined process towards future development and approval. “Situated just West of the town of Albion at 3400 North Hwy 1, Albion California the property runs adjacent to California’s last remaining wooden bridge and Highway 1. The property offers a true outdoor experience like no other and could play host to those discerning and conservation-minded buyers looking to create open space, or to those seeking the ultimate Multifamily Compound at the water edge.” The listing for the $6.9 million property can be seen on real estate broker Justin Nadeau’s listings page
The “multifamily compound” part of the ad is interesting as the zoning is strictly for single-family homes, but with a large enough home, this might be possible. The property owned by Mansor has never been part of the ranch. It was known as Freddy Fireside’s” market and Donat’s gas station and garage in the 1970s
The young Realtor has gained some of the most amazing listings since returning to Fort Bragg after graduating from Chico State and doing military service. His most amazing listing might be Kris Kristofferson’s ranch to the south of Albion, The Kristofferson Ranch is at 2401 South Hwy 1, Elk, California and is listed at a cool $17,200,000.
This father and son from Germany had never seen a wooden highway bridge and were amazed at the historical treasure and that the Albion headlands was for sale. The dramatic location was thrilling enough for them to actually walk out on the bridge, a death-defying stunt. Albion has the worst public access of any place along the Coast, with both its beaches cut off by private property now.
How Mendocino preserved its headlands: When the Mendocino Headlands became the target of a hotel developer a generation ago, activists revolted and got State Parks and our assemblymember and senator involved. The result was a massive trade of Jackson Demonstration State Forest prime logging lands for the Mendocino Headlands, Jughandle and the bulk of Mackerricher State Park, which the state already had some of going at the time. From an environmental point of view, even the sacrifice of prime second-growth redwood forest for all that prime oceanfront being saved was well worth it, all now agree.
The state traded to Boise Cascade, then the heir company to Union Lumber Company, nine hundred seventy-eight acres of Jackson State Forest, containing twenty million harvestable board feet of timber, in exchange for six hundred fifty-eight acres, which was mostly MacKerricher but also included the seventy acres that comprise the Mendocino Headlands.
A mystery buyer supposedly appeared at the last minute to buy the Mackerricher sand dunes for development, resulting in a much higher appraisal and a $900,000 buying price for State Parks to close the deal with the timber company. Some say there was some insider baseball, but if so, it was still a steal.
Other parts of the parks system, such as the Caspar Headlands, came into the parks system with an attached development for wealthy people (the Caspar Headlands). That idea was seen back in the day as a good way to get people who could afford a second home here and boost the economy. The Albion area has the least public access and the most rich guy housing on the bluffs already. There is a swanky project on the other side of the Salmon Creek Bridge and the north side of the Albion River Bridge has private homes. The trip to Mendocino has no real public access to the ocean until one gets to Van Damme State Park.
Check out Justin’s other listings:
(Thanks to all who provided crowdsourcing for this article. Please continue, and it will evolve even more.
The property is leased to a cattle operator. These beef cows enjoy a view few humans have seen.
Crowd sourced update from new friend Alison, who has lived in Albion since the good old days, or so us Boomers would call them. I had found an article describing a car whose wheels broke through the Albion Bridge in 1931 and the story said the Smith Ranch was located to the West. I had wondered if the Smiths of today had returned to land their ancestors once owned. But the old timers say no. That reference is a mystery. This story checks out, at least for the headlands part.
Palle Anderson (pronounced Paulie or Polly, a man). He ran sheep on the headlands and there was never a house up there.. The whole headland area used to be in sheep, which are harder on the land than cattle, as they graze closer to the ground. He put out cyanide traps for the coyotes. He also owned what is now the horse ranch, and the whole parcel south of Albion ridge on the headlands, east of the highway. After he died, the family sold off most of the land, and just kept his house on a small parcel. The house burned down some time ago. Some of his heirs still come up in the summer and camp out there. As you’re going up the ridge, it’s on the left, after the A frame. And I’m going to be leaving in 20 min. to go into town, work, errands, puppy class, etc. Will be on the computer for another 15 min., probably.
