Cabin owners' rebuilding plans left to a lottery

By Marianne Love , Staff Writer

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- In an unprecedented move, forest officials plan to use a lottery system to determine which cabin owners who lost their homes in the 2002 Curve and Williams fires will be allowed to rebuild.

Dozens of cabin owners will have their names picked from a hat to find out which 10 can erect cabins on lots predetermined by the U.S. Forest Service.

Forest officials devised the system after concluding they have only 10 or 12 lots available; the other lots are not developable because they are in riparian areas or flood plains, forest officials said.

Some cabin owners were angry at the news.

"It doesn't sound fair. If you had a lot you should be able to get a lot back,' said Reiner Kruger, whose cabin burned in San Dimas Canyon. "I'm a little disheartened. They need to look into the availability of more lots.'

The fires scorched about 60,000 acres from north of Azusa to north of Claremont, destroying 110 structures. Four cabin owners were given permission earlier to rebuild, leaving 106 in limbo.

So far, about 50 of the 106 say they do not want to rebuild, leaving 56 possibly vying for lots scattered throughout the Angeles Forest.

District Ranger Marty Dumpis of the San Gabriel River District said he will decide how the lots will be assigned once he knows how many people want to rebuild.

He did not say when the lottery will be held.

Dumpis said he may be able to offer cabin owners lots in the Santa Clara/Mojave River District in the Santa Clarita area and the Los Angeles River District in the Tujunga area of the Angeles.

Glendora resident Dennis Rose was given permission to rebuild in the hills above Azusa in the North Fork San Gabriel tract where 50 structures were destroyed in the Curve Fire.

But he might not do it.

"Why would I want to rebuild if only four can? That'll be an attractive nuisance and it won't have any sense of community,' Rose said. "It makes no sense. It yanks the heart right out of the community.'

Cabin owners have appealed a ruling that keeps them from rebuilding on their same lots. Forest officials will rule on the appeals July 22.

-- Marianne Love can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2108, or by e-mail at marianne.love@sgvn.com .