Environmentalists Balk at Plan to Build Camp for Handicapped

Burt Wallrich’s dream is to build a $1-million mountain campground south of Westlake Village that does not have the physical barriers that prevent people in wheelchairs from enjoying the outdoors.

But an obstacle of another type is threatening Wallrich’s plan for a “total access” nature center on 160 acres of federal parkland off Mulholland Highway.

Conservationists are opposing the campground, contending that it would trigger hundreds of other private building proposals within the 11,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area.

The dispute has apparently split a 13-member commission that helps control parkland operations and will vote on the campground plan April 9.

Accessibility a Key

Some panel members contend that the “barrier-free” nature center would help meet one of the major intents of the 1978 federal bill that created the mountain parkland to be a wilderness experience accessible to all residents of urban Los Angeles.

“It’s a modest proposal on land that I’ve heard said is very marginal to begin with as parkland. There’s no doubt it would be an asset to the park service,” said Edward Heidig, a Thousand Oaks law student who is a member of the recreation commission. “But it probably will not pass because we have some extremely self-obsessed environmentalists who I think are locking up the park.”

But another commissioner, Malibu artist and writer Sarah Dixon, said the issue is one of long-term protection for the mountains.

“This would be a precedent-setter in the sense it’s the first time that a special-interest group has asked us to consider permitting development on a piece of land where nothing existed,” she said.

‘Priority on Preservation’

“That site happens to be in the Mulholland Scenic Corridor,” she said. The park’s controlling legislation establishes a “priority on the preservation of the natural and scenic environment,” she added. “That’s the anchor guidance for people who take the legislation seriously.”

Wallrich, 48, of Santa Fe Springs, envisions building the 75-bed campground with donations and grants from companies and foundations. He said it would consist of four lodge buildings with private bedrooms and baths and a dining hall and exercise swimming pool.

Wallrich said trails would be built of a dirt-and-concrete mixture that would accommodate wheelchairs but avoid a paved look at the site, which is bisected by a ridge and situated near the intersection of Mulholland Highway and Decker Road.

Handicapped campers would be referred to the campground by groups that assist the disabled. The grounds would also be open to able-bodied people to avoid making the disabled feel segregated, Wallrich said.

Campground Called Unique

Although there are many camps for the handicapped in California, his would be unique in that it would include able-bodied and senior-citizen campers, he said.

“Mostly, the other ones are children’s camps,” Wallrich said. “Some may open two weeks a year for adults, but they typically have one dorm for men and one for women. And they don’t ‘mainstream’ their campers.”

Wallrich said he formed Total Access Camping, a nonprofit group, two years ago after he and his wife, Nancy, who is handicapped by arthritis, had wheelchair problems during a 1982 Arizona vacation.

“We found I could either walk around and come back and describe things to her, or I could stay with her and neither of us could see anything,” he said.

Since setting up the group, Wallrich has looked for suitable campground space between Studio City and Agoura.

Opposes Park Campground

David Brown, a Calabasas environmentalist active in Santa Monica Mountain land-use planning, said he has supported Wallrich’s camp concept and has helped hunt for a suitable campground site. But he does not favor the park campground.

“I do have a problem in opening up parks to one group,” Brown acknowledged Monday. “Who is next? Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and a thousand other worthy groups will want their own place. Pretty soon, if you don’t belong to a group, you don’t have access to the parks.”

Nancy Ehorn, an assistant parks superintendent of land-use and resource management for the Santa Monica Mountains, said the land-use agreement Wallrich is seeking would be a first for the local parks unit.

“We’ve had groups use existing buildings for a nature center in Franklin Canyon near Studio City and an equestrian center at Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park,” she said, referring to two area park sites. “But this would be the first time new buildings would be constructed on park property.”

Site Bought for $1.2 Million

The site eyed by Wallrich was bought by the federal government for $1.2 million in October, 1983. Ehorn said her agency has considered putting development restrictions on the property and then trading it for more environmentally sensitive, privately owned property in the mountains.

Daniel Kuehn, parks area superintendent, said he will have the final say on whether Wallrich gets to build his campground after next week’s advisory commission vote.

“We will have to look at the amount of development that might be necessary,” he said. “The park isn’t here to accomplish development. If it looks like he might be too far out of line, he might have to buy land somewhere else.”

Wallrich indicated he already has a backup site in case the National Park Service vetoes his campground south of Westlake Village.

Alternative Site

The alternative location is south of Woodland Hills, at the northern edge of Topanga Canyon. He said he would negotiate for it with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy--a state agency that acquires private land for parkland use.

Joe Edmiston, the agency’s executive director, said his group would consider leasing the 83-acre site to Wallrich if Total Access Camping could meet conditions that would be set by the agency.

“The problem with the Conservancy site is it’s too close in,” Wallrich said Monday. “We don’t want something that is going to be used as some sort of motel for people visiting Los Angeles or the Valley. We’re want a place for people to go to have an outdoor experience.”