Please consider signing this petition, asking Santa Clara County to:

1. Immediately cease making any threats or taking any actions that would deprive us of our property
2. Allow us to formally appeal any alleged violations, as required by the administrative code enforcement processes in the County Code
3. Agree to conduct a transparent investigation to hold bad actors accountable for the abuses we have endured
4. Commit to interpreting and enforcing regulations in a manner that is consistent with the plain written meaning of the County Code

In 2016, my brother and I started a farm on 40 acres of land in the Santa Cruz mountains, where we approach sustainable agriculture from the perspective of designers/builders/engineers, incorporating unique ideas and technologies into our plan for the property. Our intent was to rehabilitate an extremely unhealthy and mismanaged forest that burned in a wildfire in 2002, and to create an off-grid educational farm where we could practice regenerative forestry and agriculture, iterate, and share what we learn with others.

However, Santa Clara County is now threatening to seize our farm over non-existent code violations. To be sure, there is nothing illegal or nefarious happening here, we haven't been charged with any crimes, don't owe the government any money, and we're not even growing marijuana...

Nevertheless, we received a stop work order in November 2018, without any prior contact or explanation, that only stated, “Stop all work. This office intends to conduct a further investigation within the next fourteen days.” It took us four months to reach County staff in order to find out what this order was about, and we’re still stuck in administrative purgatory with no path to resolution three years later - all because County staff insist on regulating us in a manner that is entirely inconsistent with the County Code.

It is important to note that one of the key violations the County is alleging concerns work that was conducted during the Loma Fire in 2016. My brother and I own a lot of heavy equipment, including things like firetrucks, water trucks, bulldozers, and excavators, and we both have experience working on wildfires. So as soon as it became clear that the fire was threatening our property, we made contact with CALfire and received permission from CALfire Division Chief Jim Crawford to do emergency work to keep ourselves, our property and the surrounding area safe, including emergency grading for firebreaks and emergency access.

After the fire, we invited many state and federal government officers and agencies including CALfire, USDA/NRCS, and RCD to inspect our work and advise on best practices. Literally everyone except the County is in unanimous agreement that all of the work was done responsibly and was reasonably necessary during the wildfire emergency. Nevertheless, the County maintains that - during this critical time when every minute counted - we were negligent in not traveling to the County’s offices to apply for emergency grading permits. CALfire Chiefs Ed Orre and Jim Crawford have both stated that as far as either of them know, we are the first people in the history of California to be penalized for taking this kind of protective action during a serious wildfire.

In August of 2020, we placed all of our personal business and meetings with the County on hold in order to drive our firetruck to Santa Cruz County to assist friends and their neighbors in battling the CZU Lightning Complex Fire in Bonny Doon. CALfire resources were spread too thin to allocate sufficient protection to the Bonny Doon area, and our efforts, coupled with those of the local community, ultimately saved dozens of homes, as documented in numerous news articles (With Stretched Crews, Homeowners Join California​ Firefight, Washington Post, August 21, 2020). Those homeowners have expressed sincere gratitude for the assistance we provided, which was ultimately no different from the action we have taken to protect our own land and our own community from the ever-present threat of wildfire. Our intent has always been to serve our community and to increase the safety of our environment - objectives that the County has either ignored or dismissed.

We've been hit with a litany of alleged violations that carry fines of up to $37,500 PER VIOLATION PER DAY for things that senior county officials have admitted on record they did not observe and have no reason to think exist. The County has attempted to use these enormous penalties as leverage to force us into a plea deal, offering to strike the violations carrying the heaviest fines if we agree to sign a draconian ‘compliance agreement’ that was explicitly communicated as a ‘sign or seizure’ ultimatum. Signing this plea deal would force us to forfeit our right to appeal any of the remaining violations, undo all of the work we have put into this farm project, submit all future work to the County for discretionary approval, and pay exorbitant fines/fees.

We simply could not accept such an outcome, financially or as a matter of principle. So, on August 7th we respectfully declined. This left us facing seizure of our property, which will destroy us personally and financially. The prospect of losing everything we’ve accomplished and everything we own feels a bit like receiving a death sentence for a crime we didn't commit, without trial. The only choice we've been presented with is the method of execution.

Administrative code enforcement processes in the County Code guarantee our right to appeal any alleged violations, and we have been 100% responsive and cooperative throughout this process. But the County has intentionally and actively prohibited us from exercising our rights to meet with County officials to explain how our activities are in full compliance with County Code, and discuss the applicability of permitting exemptions related to activities expressly allowed ‘by right’ in order to show that the alleged violations did not occur.

The County has refused to even respond to correspondence from our attorney that addresses all of the legal and factual reasons why no violations exist. Instead, we are being dragged forcefully toward a predetermined outcome by whatever means the County deems most expedient, with flagrant disregard for the regulations and procedures the County claims to be enforcing. County counsel Ward Penfold, who has taken the lead for the County in the code enforcement discussions, has attempted to justify this in part by asserting that we forfeited our rights to contest any violations by failing to respond to notices the County never issued, as required by the administrative code enforcement processes in the County Code.

Ward Penfold casually dismissed our questions and concerns about the County’s inability to substantiate the issuance of notices in compliance with administrative code enforcement processes in the County Code by brazenly and repeatedly asserting that any abuses of power and process by County staff don’t ultimately matter, because from the County’s perspective, the outcome is inevitable. This response reflects a culture of unaccountability at the County, where those in positions of authority apparently either authorize or tacitly allow misconduct, so long as they do not believe they will be caught and publicly scrutinized. This is ethically and legally unacceptable, not to mention an abuse of the County’s power.

Ward Penfold: 10/25/19 telephone conversation:

“I don’t really think that ultimately matters… at the end of the day, none of that matters… As I tried to suggest earlier, that doesn’t even matter. There is no argument whatsoever that there aren’t these violations on the property…even if there weren’t Notices of Violation…this is just a distinction without a difference. It doesn’t even matter whether we issued notice of the violation or not. The final determination is the compliance agreement. the county has determined, based on its inspection, that these violations exist on the property. At the end of the day, there is literally no argument to be made that these violations don’t exist on the property. I’ll just be blunt, there is no exemption that applies to any of these things. That was the determination that the county made. The County is either going to sue to get abatement of these violations, or you’re gonna enter into a compliance agreement. Those are the options at this stage. There’s no option for going back and re-litigating issues that should have been addressed from the moment that the NOV’s were issued...the other obvious option being just filing a lawsuit to (coughing) to get a preliminary injunction, to ultimately get a restraining order, and appoint a receiver to abate the violations on the property.”

Multiple County staff members have admitted to systemic abuses of power and process on numerous occasions, like this indictment made by Tyson Green - who was the first code enforcement officer we spoke to about our problems and coincidentally, is also a disgraced former Santa Clara police officer and convicted felon who caught running a chop shop, selling parts from stolen vehicles. He is now employed by Santa Clara County as a code enforcement officer, in another position of trust, by another government agency with police power. Even Tyson Green is offended by the County’s misconduct.

Tyson Green, Code Enforcement Officer: 3/11/19 telephone conversation:

“I think you bring up a real valid point Jesse. I think there’s some real inherent flaws in the way we do things out here…I would say your best recourse for any of this stuff, go to CVS, rite aid, grab yourself a composition notebook, and you take substantial notes, of everybody you’ve had contact with…note every call that you’ve ever made to the county, date, time, phone message left. And I’ll tell you this, if it ever gets to the point where it’s gotta be heard by somebody, a third party…your best practice is taking notes… Truthfully, if the county needs to get called out for the people that don’t do their work properly, then that’s what needs to happen, because I’m telling you that what you’re telling me is not unusual… I don’t think that you’re entirely off base with the way that these things have come about… I have been in this world for a long time, and I do know that it can be vindictive, it can be very punitive. You do have to be careful with whom you share…information. You’re definitely safe with me…but I can’t necessarily say that of everybody here.”

Our conversation about accountability didn't even get us a call back, or any actual help at all. But that was good advice, and fortunately for us, we've kept meticulous records, as indicated to the County when we have asked them to substantiate claims so ridiculous they would be laughable, if the consequences weren't so dire.

We are facing the imminent threat of an enforcement action that would deprive us of our property and destroy us financially, after being stuck in administrative purgatory under a stop work order the County refused to let us resolve for almost three years - all because County staff willfully insist on regulating us in a manner that is entirely inconsistent with County Code. We have simply made strategic decisions and investments to develop and use this property with the express intent of restricting our activities to those allowed ‘by right’ to the maximum extent possible, and in full compliance with County Code. All we’ve ever asked of the County is an opportunity to demonstrate this by granting us a formal hearing, as required by the administrative code enforcement processes in the County Code.

If you'd like to know more about what's happening, please see the petition updates and check out this interview we did with Adam Kokesh.