Older couple fight Stanislaus County’s action to acquire their ‘dream home’ for expressway
Stanislaus County officials voted again to exercise eminent domain powers to acquire property for the North County Corridor, under findings the route was planned for the greatest public good and the least private injury.
It might be hard to convince Wolfgang and Victorina Bach of the “least private injury” part after the county acted Tuesday to acquire their home and 23 acres on Oakdale Road.
Wolfgang, the son of a conductor and composer, Erwin Johannes Bach, was born in the Soviet Union after his parents fled Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people in the 1930s. The family returned to their homeland, but in 1968 Wolfgang escaped from Communist East Germany. He married Victorina and they settled in Modesto, where she served as a pediatrician for decades.
The couple built their dream house in 1980, a Tudor-style home with stained glass windows, custom wood and brickwork, serene landscaping and an adjacent almond orchard. They are now in their 80s, and Wolfgang struggles with heart trouble as Victorina pleads with the county to let them keep their home.
“Losing their home in the twilight of life is very difficult and traumatic,” said attorney Glenn Block, who represented the Bachs at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
Block, an attorney with California Eminent Domain Law Group, argued that the expressway project needs no more than 8.5 acres of the couple’s property, not the entire 23.
The Oakdale Road parcel sits where the 3-mile first phase of the expressway route will shoot east, after a southward jog from the Claribel Road and Oakdale intersection.
County Public Works says part of the flag-shaped parcel is needed for building the east-west four-lane route on a new alignment parallel with Claribel. The 3-mile section will connect with Claus Road.
The expressway would displace the Bachs’ driveway and put an on-ramp in the middle of their 3,100-square-foot home, blocking access to the remainder of the property. The county has offered $1.7 million for the home and adjacent almond orchard, based on an appraisal.
The county in February approved the use of eminent domain to obtain the property. But the issue was brought back to the board this week due to a clerical error, and that gave Block the opportunity to contest the county action and propose alternatives.
Block stressed that vehicle access to the south side of the residential property could be provided. A minor part of the North County Corridor plan is an extension of Plainview Road from Roselle Avenue halfway to Oakdale Road.
By extending Plainview, or an access road, another quarter mile to the west, the Bachs could have access and keep their home and almond trees. Movers would need to relocate the house on the 14 acres preserved for the owners.
Block also suggested the county wait to take action on the parcel until complicated elements of the corridor project are finished, such as a railroad overcrossing.
“Give them all the time they need to deal with this devastating situation,” Block implored.
Celina Goldenberg, the Bachs’ daughter, said her parents should be permitted to keep their house and most of the land. If the county takes it all, she doesn’t think her parents will get fair compensation.
Properties in the area will be ripe for commercial development after the expressway is built, she said, but the county is offering her parents the agricultural land value.
“My mother saved lives in the community (as a doctor) and this is the way they are treating her? The county is abusing their constituents,” Goldenberg said. “They are not compensating anyone enough for their property.”
Goldenberg, who grew up in Modesto, said she’s talked to other people with homes or a business along the expressway route. “The law says fair market value, but no one is getting it,” she said.
“It is my childhood home and it’s very painful for me,” Goldenberg said.
Additional phases of the North County Corridor will extend the route between Highway 99 and a point east of Oakdale.
Public Works Director David Leamon told supervisors Tuesday the negotiations with the Bachs are not completed and nothing is off the table. “If it involves moving the house, there are house movers,” Leamon said.
Supervisor Buck Condit said there is room for resolving the matter. County officials did not comment on specifics of Block’s alternative proposals.
Block said Wednesday that the board’s decision was to continue with the court process of obtaining his clients’ property. The owners are getting their own appraisal of the property’s value.
“The county is sending the message ‘We will talk to you but we have a bulldozer at your front door,’” Block said.
Victorina Bach said she will keep taking care of her ailing husband through the stresses of dealing with eminent domain. “He won’t go to a nursing home,” she promised. “There are too many memories in that home.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2023 at 7:43 AM.
