The German owners of an undeveloped  22 acre parcel at the end of Alzada Road have put it on the market for a cool $3.5 mill.  Why is this a bad idea?  According to one member of the Chaney Trail Yahoo discussion group:

The ~22 acre parcel for sale is unsuitable for homes for numerous  reasons. it is steep and rugged; contains watershed and protected old  oaks; is located within the Congressional Boundary of Angeles  National Forest; probably hosts several rare species, and… perhaps  most critical to the County… is located at the dead end of a  narrow, one lane private road within the "urban / wildland interface"  where the County Fire Dept. would not be able to defend any number of  homes. We are already living in a high fire risk (red) zone. Building  "trophy homes" among the dense trees back in there would place our  neighborhood in even greater danger than it’d in now. The number of  homes necessary to make building up in "Alzada Canyon" would require  a variety of "improvements" for flood management, increased traffic  and noise, street lighting, etc. that few of us would desire under  our relatively dark skies and in our semi-rural setting.

Altadena Foothill Conservancy has been watching this development, and the alerts are sounding.  One of the possibilities floated is for AFC and/or other parties to purchase the land and leave it wild, much like the Cobb Estate.  We’ll keep an eye on this story for future developments, and appreciate any input from anyone involved in the issue.