Dyer Mountain Update from The Plumas County News

Dyer Mountain sale postponed

2/13/08
Shayla Ashmore
Staff Writer
There was no trustee sale of the 6,700-acre Dyer Mountain resort property Monday, Feb. 4, Wednesday, Feb. 6, or Friday, Feb. 8.

Independent auctioneer George Wickman read a notice of postponement at 2 p.m. each day in the lobby or on the front steps of the Lassen County Courthouse. Wickman said the sale was postponed at the discretion of the trustee, California Mortgage and Realty, which lent developer Dyer Mountain Associates almost $16 million to buy the property in Westwood.

On Friday, Feb. 8, Wickman said the sale had been postponed until 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, by mutual agreement.

DMA Manager Grant Sedgewick said the developer of the four-season resort successfully negotiated giving DMA 60 days to refinance the loan.

However, since the negotiations were conducted by e-mail, DMA's three managers hadn't signed the final documents postponing the sale.

"The documents are in draft form," Manager Sara Duryea said Tuesday, Feb. 5. "They're going to be signed Wednesday (Feb. 6).

"On Thursday morning, Duryea said the documents would be signed later that day or early Friday, Feb. 8.

A California Mortgage and Realty spokesman said the company doesn't discuss borrowers with outside parties.

A notice of trustee's sale, filed Jan. 10 in the Lassen County Clerk's office, stated that the mortgage company would sell the Dyer Mountain Resort property and all fixtures and equipment located on the property at 2 p.m., Feb. 4, at public auction, to the highest bidder.

"The lender agreed to postpone the planned trustees' sale for two months because we've shown them that we have a pretty good prospect for refinancing. We reached an agreement this afternoon," Sedgewick said at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3.

The lender planned the public auction to pay the remaining unpaid balance on a deed of trust executed Nov. 18, 2005, when DMA purchased the property.

According to the trustee sale notice, the total amount of the unpaid balance was estimated to be $15,810,084.31. The notice said premiums and interest may increase the amount prior to sale.

DMA managers announced they were in negotiations with a number of entities interested in refinancing after the mortgage company filed a notice of default and election to sell under deed of trust Aug. 27 with Lassen County. It warned DMA it had to repay more than $3.59 million in past due payments plus permitted costs and expenses.

"We have new financing we're working on," Sedgewick said Thursday, Jan. 17. "It's close to complete.

"He said the new financing package would provide enough money to pay off the loan DMA took out to buy the resort property and provide funds to go forward with the development.

The project has been in the works since voters approved a ballot initiative in 2000, which zoned as mountain resort the area around Dyer Mountain and Walker Lake, also known as Mountain Meadows Reservoir.

In September, the Board of Supervisors approved the EIR and a large-lot parcel map dividing the resort property into 13 parcels ranging in size from 40 to 1,118 acres. The board approved the development agreement in October.

DMA plans to build, or have other developers build, three golf courses, ski runs, more than 4,000 houses and condos, and commercial and retail projects.

The resort faces a lawsuit filed in October by Mountain Meadows Conservancy, Sierra Watch and the Chico-based Yahi Group of the Sierra Club. It alleges county approval of the project violated the California Environmental Quality Act.