A developer who planned to provide 28 acres for a Modesto Junior College campus in Patterson missed a contractual deadline for donating the land, and the college is now seeking other options for a West Side site. PI File Photo
Developer Mike Miroyan of Sperry Road Business Center LLC had been negotiating with the Yosemite Community College District over the past two years to provide land near Sperry Avenue off Baldwin Road.
"We thank Sperry Road for the opportunity and their hard work in trying to make the donation happen, but the district is obligated to move on," college district Chancellor Roe Darnell said Tuesday in a prepared statement.
The college district oversees MJC and Columbia College in Sonora.
Miroyan had agreed to donate land to the district by Sept. 30, but he was unable to get the financing to obtain title to the land, owned by the Bizanelli family.
He spent tens of thousands of dollars in March 2006 on a party that announced the coming of the future college, drawing close to 100 attendees. The donation process was later delayed in part because the district learned it could not use the original proposed 30-acre site for the campus, which would have stood in the flight plan of the Patterson Airport.
Still, Miroyan had met all the requirements of a March 2006 agreement, other than obtaining a title to the land. As the deadline for donating the land approached, Miroyan said he was not sure if he would be able to obtain title to the property in time and might need an extension.
The developer said he did not have time to talk early Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment before the Irrigator's deadline.
College district trustee Anne DeMartini said nothing has been discussed in open session regarding what would happen if Miroyan did not get title to the land, but real estate transactions, such as the West Side campus property deal, can be discussed in closed session.
"It kept looking like Miroyan was drawing things out to make this longer and longer," she said.
Still, Darnell and other board members, including DeMartini, have said they appreciated Miroyan's offer.
"My hat's off to him," Darnell said. "I applaud him for his efforts."
Darnell said it has always been generally understood that if either the college district or Miroyan did not meet contractual deadlines, either party could then look at other options.
"This doesn't mean the Sperry Road property is off the table," Darnell said. "It means we're no longer looking at it exclusively. We're not dismissing it."
College district officials say they still hope to build a center somewhere on the West Side, though not necessarily in Patterson.
"We have a commitment to the West Side and expect to hear from other potential partners that will enable us to provide educational services to serve the West Side's needs," DeMartini said.
Keystone Corp. and the Ielmini family both have talked with the college district about offering land the district could buy for a West Side site. A couple of other offers would entail some sort of gifting of land, DeMartini said. She said other land offers also would be welcome, but they must come soon.
The district plans to pay for the MJC West Side outreach site with $5 million obtained through Measure E, a $326.1 million general-obligation bond passed by voters in November 2004.
The district's board voted in September 2005 to negotiate exclusively with Miroyan and in March 2006 to accept Miroyan's gift of land. Former trustee Delsie Schrimp dissented on both occasions after learning that Miroyan had served time in prison for drug trafficking.
In retrospect, DeMartini said, Schrimp's vote appears to have been wise. On the other hand, she said, the board made its decision based on the belief that Miroyan's offer of free land could be a money saver for the college.
Darnell said he hopes the college district will have a site chosen by November.
"We're going to move rapidly," Darnell said. "We're going to make a good decision, but we're going to make a decision in good time as well."
To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at
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