Sunny Acres owner rejects deal to sell sober living ranch, SLO County officials say
The owner of an embattled San Luis Obispo County sober living ranch has rejected a purchase offer from a local couple who planned to clean up the facility and maintain its mission, officials say.
Cheryl and Mike Cole of Cole Farms in Santa Margarita were in talks to buy the Sunny Acres property on Los Osos Valley Road, according to a news release from Jeffrey Stein, the couple’s attorney. But owner Dan DeVaul ultimately “revoked (his) oral agreement to sell the ranch” and closed the door on the deal, Stein wrote in the release.
“Despite the anticipated buyers being ready, willing and able to complete the purchase, the cancellation of the offer to sell appears to have doomed the new team and their devotion to the recovery program and the people it has served,” the release said.
The Tribune has reached out to DeVaul and Sunny Acres management for a comment on the potential sale but has not yet received a reply.
Sunny Acres facing SLO County cleanup, tenant relocation order
For decades, Sunny Acres has been home to dozens of vulnerable residents struggling with addiction, mental health issues and other challenges. Many would likely be unhoused if they weren’t living at the facility, and they pay DeVaul as much as they can or perform work to participate in programming.
However, DeVaul has long been at odds with the county over unpermitted and dangerous living conditions at the ranch, as well as garbage and vehicle dumping and floodplain destruction.
County code enforcement staff inspected Sunny Acres in June and issued DeVaul a notice of violation in late July. The violation alleges up to 75 residents were living in substandard housing units on the ranch, which doesn’t have a potable water source.
The property also contained piles of scrap metal, parts and pieces of equipment, the violation said. Hundreds of vehicles were also parked at Sunny Acres, including trucks, RVs, boats and tractors.
In addition, filling and grading activity ranch residents have performed over the the past two decades has “significantly altered the floodplain of this area in violation of county and federal law,” the violation said.
The county ordered DeVaul to develop a “demolition, removal and housing relocation plan” within 30 days of receiving the violation.
DeVaul was to “identify a time frame, not to exceed three months from the date of this letter, when those tenants will be relocated to permitted housing,” the violation said.
The county also ordered DeVaul to start removing outdoor storage within 60 days and retain an engineering firm to help remediate the damaged floodplain.
Sunny Acres purchase offer rejected
In purchasing Sunny Acres, the Coles — along with a “consortium of professionals” — wanted to “create a fresh start and open a path for the program’s mission to survive and become both compliant with legal and health standards and viable in the long-term,” Stein’s release said.
District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg was involved in addressing code enforcement violations and “sponsored a meeting with representatives of the resident community, involved county departments and the identified new proposed ownership to identify concerns that existed and the solutions that would be required to become compliant with the regulatory requirements which were needed to allow the safe operation of the community,” the release said.
Ortiz-Legg told The Tribune in an email that she helped coordinate a meeting on July 31 with Sunny Acres management, county departments and the California State Water Resources Control Board.
The meeting, along with the potential sale of the property, left the impression that “we had a plan of action with potential new ownership and a team of professionals who could make this situation work,” Ortiz-Legg wrote.
She called DeVaul’s rejection of the purchase deal “unfortunate.”
“While I applaud Mr. DeVaul for bringing much good to the Sunny Acres community and the people who are in their program, because of what he has done to the property over the many years and because of his continued obstinance to operate within the rules, he has created a situation which puts those individuals who rely on the property at risk and in harm’s way,” Ortiz-Legg wrote.
“The people who live at Sunny Acres deserve safe permitted housing and safe drinking water,” she added. “He needs to fix the unpermitted grading that impacts flood management and the environment. Mr. DeVaul has proven that he cannot do either.”
DeVaul was to provide the county with the required relocation and demolition plan “a couple of weeks ago,” but staff delayed enforcement action to meet with Sunny Acres management, Ortiz-Legg said.
“It looks like for every two steps we take forward, Mr. DeVaul takes three steps back,” she wrote. “I don’t know where we go from here, but it appears Mr. DeVaul has foreclosed on a very good opportunity to help the folks we all want to assist and support.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 5:54 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg’s involvement in recent discussions involving Sunny Acres. Ortiz-Legg’s office helped address code enforcement violations at the sober living ranch.
