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Indybay Feature

A Santa Cruz Man May Lose His Land to the County

by Patrick Thompson
Roy Kaylor has been battling the County for over two decades--but that may end soon.The County plans to unrightfully confiscate his land next year.
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Roy Kaylor has helped Santa Cruz County in numerous ways; both directly and indirectly, but the county has yet to help him. You may know Roy from his episode of Hoarders or you may know him for his prestige. Roy Kaylor has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and masters in physical science both from Stanford. His masters should be a PH.D because Stanford accepted his thesis of high efficient quasi-sinusoidal poly-phrase converter--however, Kaylor holds an honorary PH.D in electrical engineering from Euro-technical Research Institute.

Kaylor is the one who invented the quadruple redundant high efficient power supply for Nasa's Voyager. He invented the pre-prototype to the Toyota Prius, which would later spark the interest of GM when 2, out of the 3 owners of California hybrid: Don Daniels and Gary Soubry, appeared on the morning show to flaunt the design. Roy, the third owner of the company and the design inventor had prior obligations and could not attend. The proto-type would later be purchased by Toyota for $3 million after GM backed out.

Roy Kaylor is also the owner of 156.3 acres of land in California, which is known as the Kaylor Micro Basin Wildlife and Wilderness Preserve.

Roy's land is infamous for its aesthetics. His land is home to the redwood trees; Redwoods are some of the oldest trees in the world. They can live for thousands of years and are some of the largest and tallest trees on the planet. They are capable of growing over 300ft high and can have a trunk diameter of 20ft. Unfortunately Santa Cruz County may take those trees from him next year.

Santa Cruz County is seeking about 25 million dollars in fines from Roy Kaylor. Although Kaylor has lived on the land for 31 years, the county claims that his land is in violation of their planning departments codes--codes they wrote over the past few years. The county claims Kaylor's land is not in compliance with zoning regulations, violates allowed use in a timber harvest zone district, is an illegal outdoor storage ground for personal property and materials, and harbors travel trailers and recreational vehicles without the proper permits. Every day since 2006 the county has charged him $1,250 for being in violation of these codes--But it is no coincidence that the county wants to take Kaylor's land away from him.

Next year, Big Basin Redwood State Park is moving their headquarters 150 feet away from Kaylor's property. The county finds his land desirable because they see it as 156.3 acres available for development. It is likely that they would convert the land into parking spaces and camp sights that would produce revenue for the county. The county has already told Kaylor's neighbors that they would be willing to sell them 10-acre parcels of Kaylor's land after it has been seized.

The requisition of Kaylor's land was not always a threat. In 2011 the planning department said they would not sue Kaylor if he signed a mediation agreement. At the time the agreement was presented to Kaylor he was only shown 2 of the 8 total pages. Later on, he stumbled upon the remaining pages and was unhappy to see that the agreement was heavily biased. However, he signed it unhappily hoping the County would finally leave him alone. Just months after the agreement was signed, the planning department rejected the mediation and proceeded to sue Kaylor. Heading into the trouble, Stanford Law School was going to assist Stanford alumni Roy Kaylor. But when Kaylor agreed to sign the mediation, Stanford Law School backed away and their assistance could not be revoked, leaving Kaylor to his own devices as he battles the county.

For over 20 years Kaylor has been trying to obtain permits to rebuild establishments that were bulldozed by a meth addict in 1989. In 1984 when Kaylor purchased the land there was a winery vineyard, a 4-bedroom house, a 2-bedroom house, a 1-bedroom house, an old sawmill, and a half-mile of narrow gauge railroad tracks. Today, none of those establishments remain and the railroad tracks have been stolen.

Kaylor says trying to obtain the permits necessary to rebuild " has been a nightmare". Back in 89' when the buildings were first destroyed he received two permits to rebuild. Unfortunately, Kaylor's permits were destroyed in a gasoline fire that an individual intentional set on his land. This person broke the windows of Kaylor's vehicles and poured gasoline inside before lighting the fire. 3 RV's, 2 pick up trucks, a logging truck, and a boom truck were all destroyed. Inside one of the RV's was a file cabinet with Kaylor's two permits. The flames were 60 feet wide, 80 feet long, and 100 feet high. Although the county granted him the permits in 89, they have since mysteriously lost their record of him owning the permits--the permits that would partially protect him from their codes.

Santa Cruz County has no intention to leave Kaylor with any of his land that they plan to confiscate. The same land where Kaylor has planted exactly 7800 trees, the same land where he developed the pre-prototype for the Toyota Prius, the same land where Kaylor designed the power supply for the voyager spacecraft while working for Philco-Ford. There is a long list of inventions that Kaylor has created that are ubiquitous in today's world, none of which would have been possible without Kaylor and his laboratory located on his property.

All of which could be gone by next year. Kaylor has been battling the county for years but it appears that the end is near--and it's not looking too promising for him. The judge has authorized the receiver to hire an attorney; in addition to the fees from the county, Kaylor will now need to pay attorneys fees also. The judge declared that he is not allowed to sell anything from the property to raise the money he needs to fight the case: no vehicles, no firewood, nor anything else from his land. Kaylor's receiver has been told to cut all the trees on the property and keep the proceeds to pay himself for " cleaning up the property and returning the land it it's pristine state". Which makes no sense because there would no longer be any trees.

Roy has been fighting to save the redwood trees and overrule the county for quite some time. He has started a petition and created a Facebook page to bring awareness to his case. However, he still needs all the help he can get in his battle with Santa Cruz County--because next year, it could all be gone.

If you or anyone you know can help Roy Kaylor please contact KaylorEnergy@yahoo.com

You can sign Roy's Petition Here

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by Patrick Thompson
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It Takes a Worried Man
Tue, Feb 23, 2016 8:43PM
Pat Colby
Tue, Feb 23, 2016 5:17PM
Patrick Thompson
Tue, Feb 23, 2016 6:52AM
SFist
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Pat Colby
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Worrisome
Sat, Feb 20, 2016 11:33AM
Patrick Thompson
Sat, Feb 20, 2016 9:16AM
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