VILLA PARK

A group of citizens is funding an appraisal of Barham Ranch, an undeveloped 525-acre plot at the center of a dispute over whether to develop it or keep it as open space. The citizens plan to pay about $10,000 for the work, community activist Shirley Grindle announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Grindle said that before the appraiser surveys the land, she will meet with the Serrano Water District and Orange Unified School District, which co-own the land, to agree upon appraisal standards. In about two months, after the appraisal is complete, Grindle said she will bring the figures to Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization dedicated to acquiring and preserving open space, and a county agency that has expressed interest in buying the land and maintaining it as a nature site. The water district is suing the school district to force it to sell Barham Ranch to developers, while the district wants to use the land for an elementary school. Villa Park residents and others who enjoy the open space want it sold to the county and preserved.