Letter: Clearing the air about Scotts Valley, Pasatiempo, and the Polo Ranch

EDITOR,
At last week’s city council meeting, the council voted unanimously to accept an offer of $1 million and the building of a park in lieu of rebuilding the Polo Barn structure close to the site of a proposed development. It was not an easy or hurried decision. In fact, the barn’s proponents were given an extra 60 days to meet with the developer and come to a compromise on the disposition of this historical structure. That did not work out.
At that meeting, however, members of the audience (one of whom was a member of Pasatiempo Golf Course) suggested that the course that Marion Hollins built (Pasatiempo) would be interested in relocating the barn there. The time allotted for this endeavor was 45 days. When questioned by the Press-Banner about that possibility, however, their general manager, Scott Hoyt, disavowed that notion and said that without substantial financial help from Scotts Valley, relocating the barn to their property was not going to happen. Why the general manager of Pasatiempo would feel that the city should or would pay tax payer dollars to relocate this barn to the private club of Pasatiempo is beyond me.
In fact, Mr. Hoyt made the following false claim: “We attempted over the last month and a half to sit down at the table with them, but the city seemed uninterested and that was evidenced when neither Lennar representatives nor council members Dene Bustichi and Randy Johnson showed up at a meeting between the three that Jones had arranged.”
Aside from a few nebulous emails on the subject, a formal meeting was never set up with the city, Councilmember Johnson or me. We try to be responsive with everyone and when meetings are requested it’s helpful to gauge the intent and level of interest before setting a time and place. Mr. Hoyt never conveyed a serious intent about the barn’s relocation and this was evidenced by the fact that the idea was summarily dismissed by him when asked about it by a reporter.
I for one would welcome the opportunity to see the barn moved and preserved at Pasatiempo, but not on the backs of tax payers in Scotts Valley.
Communication sometimes gets garbled in these situations. But when false allegations are made against the city and its representatives, the record must be corrected. I hope this letter has served that purpose.
Dene Bustichi, Vice Mayor City of Scotts Valley