Five homeowners in South San Jose recently found out they may be losing some of their property because it belongs to the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
A stretch of land bordering Branham Lane and the Guadalupe River is at the center of a dispute in which the water district wants to take back portions of five residential lots after it was discovered that the fence line was moved by previous homeowners decades ago.
Despite arguments and appeals from impacted neighbors, the district's board has voted to take back the land, either immediately or over the next few years.
Jerry Lane, one of the affected residents, said one of the reasons he bought the home was its location and view of nature. He said he's willing to pay for the extra property. "Sell me the land," he said. "That's 15,000 bucks."
But the district said it's not that easy - it can't arbitrarily sell a piece of public land. Plus, with climate change and hydrology, it may need the land in the future for flood protection.
"There's no question this is a very difficult situation," said Ngoc Nguyen, the district's assitant operating officer for watersheds. "We want to remain being a good neighbor with them and do all we can to reach an agreement and ask them to help us maintain public land."
Lane said he can see why the district takes public land maintenance seriously, but he's not ready to give up part of his backyard.
"I was 9 years old when this fence got moved out," he said. "They were the neighbor at the time, and they allowed this to happen."
