Mountain Oaks goes to auction

But just as the city’s buying power has diminished, so has the imminent threat of development since M. Jorjezian Investments appears too weak to do anything with the property.

In addition to its $4.39-million loan default with Newport Beach-based Surfside Funding Corp., the firm still owes the county $33,037 in back property taxes, according to the tax assessor’s office.

The firm’s attorney, Yeznik Kazandjian, said Monday he could not comment on the circumstances surrounding the sale.

M. Jorjezian Investments also would have needed to obtain a supermajority vote from the City Council to rezone the land for the project — but the majority of its members strongly oppose the development.

“I think they totally underestimated the community’s resolve,” said Richard Toyon, president of Glendale-Crescenta Volunteers Organized in Conserving the Environment.

Still, City Council members don’t stay around forever, opinions change, and more-flush developers could always swoop in, and so city ownership would always be the preferred option, Toyon and other advocates said.

“People will keep banging their heads to develop it,” said Mike Lawler, president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.

“It’s such a prime property.”

 JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.