"There isn't any place I know of that's more beautiful," said Parker in his Texas drawl, standing on his property in brown leather cowboy boots as cattle grazed nearby on a carpet of tall grass, surrounded by the San Rafael and Los Padres mountain ranges. "Many a day I've been out here, just looking."
Parker said he envisioned a "country development" with spacious homes on expansive lots with no sidewalks, curbs or street lighting. He predicted home buyers would be affluent baby boomers from Los Angeles and Orange counties.
While it is undecided how much the tribe's 156 members would pay for their homes, the residences available to the public are expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1 million, sources said.
One of many potential obstacles to the project will be finding home buyers who are restricted from owning the land and must secure long-term leases.
During his initial discussions with Armenta, Parker recalled a black-and-white photograph of him as Crockett shaking hands a half century ago with a Native American character in the "Indian Fighter" episode.
"In the Crockett movie, one of my adversaries was Red Stick, played by a wonderful Irish actor named Pat Hogan," Parker said. "At the end of our struggles, we ended up as friends. I think that was the philosophy of Walt Disney in those films. You fight your enemy whoever it is and you're friends with good people."
