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Days after a torrential downpour swept through Los Altos Hills, Jeremiah Girouard was surveying the damage to his family’s mobile home at the Rhus Ridge trailhead of Rancho San Antonio Preserve.
Spanning more than 2,000 acres, the open space preserve is widely known for its hiking, biking and horseback trails, as well as its abundant wildlife and biodiversity.
Lesser known is that the Girouard family has lived at Rhus Ridge for more than 50 years, acting as stewards of the land in exchange for the right to stay there.
But that half-century arrangement is now at risk, as the Girouards are facing the threat of eviction by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, a publicly funded organization tasked with protecting and managing more than 65,000 acres of undeveloped land, including Rancho San Antonio.
“We own the home that sits on that land. We have worked for nearly five decades to ensure the land and the people who use it were safe and secure,” Girouard said at a Midpen meeting on Feb. 12, urging the district to recognize his family’s occupancy rights.
Midpen says it has been trying to negotiate a new lease with the Girouards, but they have not been able to reach a mutually agreeable solution.
The district is looking to switch over to a more “traditional residential agreement,” one that is less focused on caretaker duties, according to Leigh Ann Gessner, a Midpen public affairs specialist. Eventually, Midpen wants to phase out the area as a residential site, Gessner said.
The conflict has galvanized the surrounding community, with an online petition garnering more than 700 signatures. The petition is requesting that Midpen negotiate a long-term lease with the Girouards so that Jeremiah, his 73-year-old mother and young son can stay at Rhus Ridge.
Currently, the house is in a major state of disrepair and uninhabitable so the Girouards have been renting a place in town. “We can’t justify investing in our home if we don’t know if we can live there,” Girouard said, pointing to the tree-damaged roof. “And we keep getting hit with eviction notices.”
The Girouard family at Rhus Ridge
Since the early 1970s, the Girouards have been a fixture at Rhus Ridge, starting with Raye Girouard, Jeremiah’s father. The Duveneck family – who at the time owned Hidden Villa Ranch and surrounding lands – hired Raye Girouard to patrol the trails and assist with general maintenance, a service that he provided at a deeply discounted rate, according to his son.
As part of the arrangement, Raye Girouard and his family were allowed to live in a mobile home on an adjoining 18.7-acre parcel of land, also owned by the Duveneck family.
In 1987, Midpen purchased the land from the Duvenecks for $225,000, adding it to the Rancho San Antonio Preserve. In the purchase agreement, Midpen recognized that Raye Girouard and his wife, Susan Girouard Cretekos, were tenants at Rhus Ridge and a carveout was made for them.
“Midpen at that time made a month-to-month agreement that they could continue living there in exchange for caretaker duties,” Gessner said.
In 1993, the Girouards signed a 10-year lease with Midpen, agreeing to 20 hours of patrol service in exchange for occupancy rights at Rhus Ridge. The Girouards also upgraded their existing mobile home to a larger one, assuming all responsibility for it.
“Given the district’s long history with Raye and Susan, staff is satisfied that this agreement is in the best interest of the district,” Midpen said at the time.
In 2004, Midpen extended the lease for another four years, stipulating similar conditions that granted the Girouards the right to live on the land and not pay rent in exchange for performing caretaking duties.
The agreement continued up until Raye Girouard passed away in 2018, according to Gessner. “At that point, there was really no caretaker services being provided, and Midpen approached the tenant to try to transfer to more of a traditional residential agreement,” Gessner said.
Gessner added that the lease agreement has always been with Raye Girouard and his wife, Susan Cretekos, and not the children.
Girouard disputes Midpen’s framing, claiming there has not been a caretaker lapse at Rhus Ridge. The family plans to return once they can get approval to replace the roof, he said.
Until then, Girouard says he is visiting Rhus Ridge twice a day, in the mornings and evenings to make sure everything is in order. On weekends, he walks the trails, clearing trees and branches that have fallen after big storms.
Occasionally, people park in the fire lanes or camp in their vehicles, which is not allowed. “Being here keeps that from happening,” Girouard said.
During a visit to Girouard’s home, two hikers stopped to greet him on the trailhead. “We know his family, they’ve been here a long time,” the older man said. “They’ve looked after this place.”
Pressing for transparency at Rhus Ridge
While Midpen and Girouard are in dispute about whether caretaking duties are being carried out at Rhus Ridge, both parties agree that negotiations for a new lease started in 2019 and then came to a standstill.
The negotiations were put on pause during the pandemic, according to Midpen.
Girouard says his family stopped hearing from Midpen altogether – until recently. Three days before Thanksgiving, his mother received a letter, giving them 18 days to respond to a “notice of abandonment” or their lease would be terminated. The notice also demanded rent, including past due rent.
Girouard followed up with a letter, saying his family had not abandoned the property and a rental agreement had never been established with Midpen.
On Jan. 7, Midpen sent a 60-day eviction notice, stating that the Girouards were failing to uphold the lease by not living on the premises or performing caretaking duties. The letter also expressed a desire to restore the trailhead to its natural state.
“As a public agency, Midpen needs to responsibly manage the public lands in its care,” Gessner said. “I think part of that is maintaining fair and reasonable agreements with the tenants.”
At the Feb. 12 board meeting, community members urged Midpen to reconsider its stance, pointing out that a long-term lease would help maintain affordable housing for the Girouards, who also have a young child in the local school district.
Keeping the Girouards in their home is a win-win situation, said Mary Rees, noting that it would “serve as a model for community-oriented land use” while demonstrating the district’s commitment to sustainable solutions.
Ana Ruiz, Midpen’s general manager, responded to the public comments, stating that the District was trying to work amicably with the Girouards and wanted to arrive at an agreement both parties could support. She noted that the discussions were with Susan Cretekos’ attorney, as she and her late husband were the original lease holders.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to come to an agreement in our discussion so far,” Ruiz said.
A few days later, the Girouards received another letter from Midpen threatening to evict them from Rhus Ridge.
“You cannot start a negotiation with an ultimatum,” Girouard said at a Midpen board meeting on Feb. 26, after receiving the third eviction notice. “I don’t know how you come to an amicable solution.”
Girouard pressed the board to agendize the item so it could be discussed openly with community input.
So far, no board members have taken a public stance on the issue.
“I urge you as board members to please listen to the public. That’s what you guys are – a publicly funded organization with a board of elected officials,” Girouard said.
“The public is letting you know that they are unhappy with this. It’s time to let them be heard, and it’s time to have open discussions about what is going on.”
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Thanks for reporting on this. We’ve been to Rhus Ridge many times and enjoy seeing the horse and occasionally the owner. It’s such a nice human interaction. The fact is, this feels like more of a traditional arrangement than the more capitalist job model where we hire someone with no connection to the land. Not a good look, Mid Pen. I’d love to see the community pitch in and help her upgrade her home and stable. She’s part of the experience and she is aging. She might not be able to do as much. She’s part of the story of the place. Let’s treat her how we’d like our own elders to be treated.
Please help support our family’s right to occupy the land that we have called home for over 50years and that was granted to us in the 1987 purchase agreement!
For more info and if you wish to sign our petition please visit our change. Org page
Thank you!!!!
https://www.change.org/p/help-save-the-girouard-family-home-at-rhus-ridge?recruiter=281410896&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&fbclid=IwY2xjawIPNtdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHePhQn6gllPWqcFxqtMSEmXluEYfy4_i9jANFKjOyETagWQN31wu-GwWqA_aem_dpSwhGMopVvpPDOYhP8KAQ
This article is evidence of a large bureaucracy at work to serve its own desires rather than the community it serves.
For example, my sister and I own a 20-acre parcel inside the park district boundaries that has been our family for over 100 years. Even though we have a perpetual right of way clearly stated in our deed, the district refuses to acknowledge it and we need to get a court order to enforce it. The district has a “Good Neighbor Policy” but it only applies when it is to the district’s benefit.
I love how “squatters” are protected at all costs and are EXTREMELY difficult to remove when they invade a homeowner’s home, yet, our self-serving govt has NO moral or financial problem evicting a 70-year long tenant that is providing service to the community and has a legitimate lease and a right to be there…
Much like Los Altos not allowing a homeowner to tear down a home with a ‘historic’ designation that the homeowner voluntarily put on with ZERO financial gain or benefit, yet has NO problem revoking the historic designation of the orchard on San Antonio, again of course for the govt’s own benefit….