[July 01, 2012] The Modesto Bee, Calif., Jeff Jardine column Tweet Jul 01, 2012 (The Modesto Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Here's the dirt on Naraghi Lake: OK, so this really is about the land around Naraghi Lake and why, after more than three decades, it's still all dirt and no buildings. Situated alongside Oakdale Road in northeast Modesto, the 13-acre lake rests amid the city's most noticeable patch of brown, hemmed in by an aesthetically unpleasing chain-link fence. Some neighbors along Hashem Drive who look out their front windows and see the recently disced soil wonder if or when it ever will be developed. Others, such as 22-year resident Marion Ignash, no longer care. "After awhile, you get used to it," she said. Occasionally, someone will boldly suggest that the Naraghi family, which owns the land, give it to the city for a public park. Envision a 13-acre lake surrounded by rolling green lawns. ... The geese and ducks on the water. Of course, we're all better at envisioning when it comes to other people's property. Really, if you owned the lake and its 30 prime surrounding acres on which you've paid taxes for decades and plan to develop some day, would you give it to the city? And even if the Naraghis wanted to donate it -- which they don't -- the city in its current fiscal state couldn't afford to turn a barren piece of ground of that size into a bucolic public garden, anyway. It's pretty simple. The Naraghis own the lake and acreage. It's theirs to do with it whatever they choose within the zoning restrictions. Same goes for a vacant chunk of land they own at the northeast corner of Floyd, across Oakdale Road from Naraghi Lake. This unfenced parcel is home to scores of rabbits that hop freely, to the chagrin of those who fear for the animals' safety. The lake is part of a 200-acre project the city approved in 1979, when Jimmy Carter occupied the White House and the Naraghi family's close personal friend, Jerry Brown, finished the first of his two terms during his first go-round as California's governor. Since then, Wendell Naraghi points out, the family has developed the vast majority of the 200 acres. Homes. A shopping center. The Marina apartment complex along Hashem Drive. They recently sold some property north of the lake to a developer who plans to build a shopping center at Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue. The irony is that when the Naraghis built the small shopping center at Floyd Avenue west of Oakdale Road in the early 1980s, it was anchored by a Save Mart supermarket that seemed modern at the time. Now, a bigger, state-of-the-art Save Mart will replace it a half mile to the north. Yet during the time it took for the existing store to go from new to outdated, the lake hasn't changed. The Naraghis fenced the public out in 2003 -- or so they thought -- after someone dumped pacu fish, vegetarian cousins to the piranha, into the lake. A few years later, though, some sickos got into the lake and killed nearly three dozen geese by snapping their necks. Naraghi employees mended holes in the fence. It remains. So do the questions many folks ponder: What about developing around Naraghi Lake? When will it finally happen? "We reflect the market in Modesto," Wendell Naraghi told me. When the market boomed, they put their resources into building in Village I. During that time, he said, they received calls from developers all over the country inquiring not only about the lake, but also about buying their farmland. Not interested. Any developing, Naraghi said, the family members will do themselves or at least maintain some control over when a project pencils out. In 2008, the Naraghis told The Bee they planned to develop the property as originally planned -- a combination of residential, commercial and retail uses. Shortly thereafter, the economy began its plunge into the abyss. Any plans quickly were put on hold. There's nothing in the pipeline. "I can't say today that we have a definite one in mind," Naraghi said. In fact, it's not a priority. The Naraghi family owns thousands of acres throughout the state. They farm about 80 percent of it and lease the rest. In this economy, they're far more focused on growing almonds, walnuts, pistachios, wine grapes and organic vegetables than developing the property. That means the brown stretch of land along Oakdale Road will stay that way until it becomes financially favorable to build restaurants, offices and condos along the lake shore. Until then, neighbors such as Sandy and Philip Ward can sit on their front porch on Hashem Drive and watch the animals. "I enjoy the geese," Sandy Ward said. "I go buy feed for the geese." "It's not a bad thing now -- just a pond of water," Philip Ward said. That open space is something residents might someday find they miss when the lakefront finally is developed. And if that happens -- say, when 113-year-old Jerry Brown is elected for his third go-round as governor -- Naraghi promises it will be impressive. "We want to finish it in grand fashion," he said, "finish in a way we're going to be proud of." Either way, they own it. It's theirs to do -- or not do -- anything they want. Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2383. ___ (c)2012 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]