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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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Comments (Hide Comments)
by via GeekFest Berlin
"Roy is an electrical engineer and inventor. His US Patents are amazing. One such invention of his is the main power supply for the Voyager Space Shuttle. He’s incredibly intelligent, and incredibly eccentric. A soft-spoken, gentle man, he lives quietly with his long-term girlfriend Marlena on 153 acres of beautiful land filled with magnificent redwoods."
https://youtu.be/bUfryCK4cxE
by Pat Colby
I find this story sickening on many levels. While city plans on taking away this man's land to serve their terrible agenda of profits, they won't step in to save the Beach Flats Community Gardens. Seems if they can take this man's land through a rigged county court system, they should easily be able to grab the Seaside Companies' land to preserve it for the garden. Why are there two standards when it comes to seizing private property!

It should be easier for the city to preserve the Beach Flats Community Gardens after all the city has diverted millions of dollars to fund and subsidize the Seaside company—don't they owe the the tax payers something for all of the money given to them.
by Worrisome
This has got rabbit hole written all over it. This was in a quick pass, it's well past time to crash for me. First off, I can't find any footprint for the Euro-technical Research Institute. More noticeable is the claim of him inverting the Voyager power system while in Boulder Creek. Your posting said that Roy bought the land in 1984 and proceeded to set up his lab from which all these wonders flow. By that point both Voyager craft were well past Saturn. Are there any primary sources for any of this?
by Patrick Thompson
Hello 'Worrisome', I have a few answers to your questions. Kaylor's laboratory was built in 1960 and was later moved to the land he lives on now. As far as Euro-Technical Research institute, besides my conversations with Kaylor by phone, this may satisfy your need for a source http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Roy-Kaylor/1552277045
by Worrisome
I would hope a place like the Eurotechnical Research Institute would have a web presence anywhere, but I can not seem to find any.

I grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains, including years in Boulder Creek. I know that people avoid entanglements with Planning as bet they can. When I was in high school, i was in a squat on another "inventor"'s property. His hand crafted hot tub was really nice. The 55 gal. drum that passed as a septic tank wasn't so hot. At the last place I was up there, we were 20 years overdue for getting signed off on our electrical upgrades.

That said, there's just too much to the story that not fitting together. This statement in the bio you linked to doesn't make me feel any better about this

"Roy, in college, had one of the White House red phones in his frat house, where some of our brightest minds were instructed to call the big guys upstairs anytime they made a new technological advancement...now do you understand why few recognize Roys name?"

I think it's the geek equivalent of that guy in a bar that claims to be a SEAL, but beyond that everything is classified.
by Pat Colby
So we should all take the word of a unnamed person on all facts? Have I got some great real estate to sell to you.

I watched the "Hoarders" episode. I know that they fact check details like his. So it is more reasonable to believe them than you a faceless, nameless internet troll. Why won't you post under your real name if you are such a credible source?

I was also present when they did a show on one of my close friend and talked to show personal in 3D.
by Worrisome
but with Pat it only matters if she disagrees with you.

The more you look at this, the deeper the rabbit whole goes. The more digging you do, the less believable it becomes. Pat, you want me to shut up and go away? Fine, help me find this "Euro-technical Research Institute" diploma mill. Once I find one thing true in this it will make it easier to believe any any of the rest of it is true. Here's another tidbit from an earlier posting here on indybay https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/17/18775069.php "Roy Kaylor, world-class inventor (credited by some historians with the U.S. winning the Cold War)" That's a hell of a claim, and it would have been nice to know which historians we are talking about. In that same posting he claims to have designed or invented IFF (actually 1939 in England) and the innards of lead acid batteries (France 1859). So, I see all this and yet I'm supposed to believe that the county is going to fine him $25 million and clear cut his land for a campground. That makes about as much sense and is as believable as the rest of it (ie not).

That said I really do hope this works out well for him. it was really sad to see all those rotting Type 1s on his property. The market for electric Beetles is non zero, but very close to it.


Pat, I'll leave this little bit from a past sentinel story.
"Despite the show's name, Kaylor doesn't consider himself a hoarder.

'Most people do,' he acknowledged, 'but it depends on the definition. I consider these things resources. ... It's my property and I can do anything I want with it. At least, that's what I thought when I bought the property.'" Which I guess is true for Mr. Kaylor but not for the Seaside Co.
by James Brown
Roy Kaylor is planning to run against Bruce McPherson and Bill Smallman for county supervisor:

http://www.votescount.com/Home/UpcomingElections/June7,2016PresidentialPrimaryElection/CandidateWatch/SantaCruzCountyOffices.aspx

Question is, what was in the Dixie cup shown above?
by SFist
I generally find SFist to be a reliable journalistic source. Here are a couple of quotes from their article about Kaylor around the time of the Hoarders episode:

"he's a tinkerer and inventor who claims to have helped Toyota create the Prius (Toyota denies this),"

"In addition to the whole Toyota thing, he's been raving to everyone who'll listen that the County is trying to run him off the property by suing him for $20 million. The County says no, he's really only liable for $5,200 in enforcement costs and some civil penalties they're will to drop if Kaylor complies."

From:
Guy With Enormous Personal Junkyard Outside Santa Cruz to Be Featured on 'Hoarders' Tonight
http://sfist.com/2011/07/11/guy_with_enormous_homemade_junkyard.php
by Patrick Thompson
Just a reminder that the SFist article is from 2011 and some of the information it contains is indeed outdated.
by Pat Colby
So far the critic(s) of this article have only attacked Roy about whether he invented or didn't invent!

What they refuse to address is the actual topic of the article—the county's illegal grab of his land. Plus the grab without any kind of money compensation. This out right theft! They have wanted his land to enlarge the park and may profit off of it. Nobody should be okay with this.

I bet the one critic(s) would have these hypocritical beliefs as well:

The Seaside Co owns the land in the Beach Flats and should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want even if they left it as a eyesore, vacant, blighted, weed and trash filled empty lot!

The stand off up in Oregon over the BLM and the cattleman was okay. That the government didn't have a right to take back land that they had allowed this man to use to graze his cattle for so many years.

The county is totally within its rights to tell this man what he can't and can have on his land. Then fine him to run up a bill that can't be paid so they then grab his land for free!

What is wrong with this picture?
by It Takes a Worried Man
If somebody comes up to you and says A! B! And C!. Then you look and you see that A and B are pretty much 100% unadulterated, organic, non-GMO bullshit, then it behooves you to take a long look at C. What's our source for the seizing of the land and the county expanding the park? Why, it's the same Ph.D from a fake institute, hot line to the White House, Prius inventing, Cold War winning genius that somehow thinks putting lead-acid batteries into a Super Beetle is a good idea and runs his own private junkyard.

That said, I wish him well on the Supervisor run. It'll be nice to have a Supe that's actually from the Valley and not near Pasatiempo.

Pat, I hate to break it to you, but Big Basin is a State park, not county. so this won't expand it, even if this was true. And by your hypocritical belief it's ok to let Roy have a trash filled lot, but not the Seaside Company?

City folk just don't get it.

Question for Patrick - Who is Max Sheeler and Leland Beller
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