Judge Allows Auction of VA Parcel to Proceed

Unmoved by a charge of misleading advertising, a federal judge has allowed the U. S. government to go ahead with today’s sale of 2.13 acres of surplus Veterans Administration land once occupied by an airport bus terminal.

Monday’s action by Judge David V. Kenyon came three days before the scheduled sale of the “Flyaway” property on Sepulveda Boulevard, which has been valued at $7.5 million.

Good Turnout Sought

“We’re going to proceed with the auction,” said Mary Filippini, a spokeswoman for the government’s General Services Administration. “We are hopeful (we) will have a good turnout.”

The sale was opposed by attorneys for the city and county of Los Angeles, whose elected representatives are concerned that any development could increase traffic in the already congested Westwood area.

County attorneys argued that the original notice of sale failed to include a full explanation of the planning problems that a commercial developer would face.

They also said that other potential buyers who might have been interested in the land at the lower prices it would command with a public use designation were scared away by the belief that it would be sold at a higher price for more profitable development.

But Kenyon denied the request to cancel today’s auction, saying that the government’s recent efforts to answer the county’s concerns were sufficient.

“We’re disappointed, of course,” said James R. Gilson, planning aide to Supervisor Ed Edelman, who had hoped to secure the land for the county at a lower price for senior citizen housing.

Announcement Ordered

Still, Kenyon ordered the government to announce at the auction that any proposed development would need the approval of the county’s Regional Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

“We’re pleased about that,” Gilson said.

More than 1,000 prospective buyers have expressed interest in the property, described in the government’s invitation for bids as a “prime development site . . . (an) outstanding 2.13-acre parcel,” but Filippini said there is no way to know how many will actually show up for the auction.

In addition to problems with county officials, any buyer is likely to face a legal wrangle with the heirs of two pioneer families who gave the land to the federal government 98 years ago for use as an old soldiers’ home.

An attorney for the heirs of the Bandini and Jones families took action last week to record their interest in the property, which has been declared surplus by the Veterans Administration.

Their claim is based on a provision in the original deed that the land should be permanently maintained as a veterans’ home. It affects the entire 300 acres now occupied by the Veterans Administration hospital and other buildings.

As a result, an internal memo prepared by Veterans Administration attorneys last year and obtained by The Times concluded that “anyone interested in this land would quickly realize he was, in effect, purchasing a lawsuit. This would make the sale of this land almost impossible until the claims of the heirs were resolved.”

In addition to the Flyaway property, which is separated from the rest of the Veterans Administration complex by the San Diego Freeway, the government has announced its intention to sell another 109 acres of the 442-acre hospital complex, along with 50 more acres in the San Fernando Valley.

New Advertisements

At Monday’s hearing, Assistant U. S. Atty. Philip Malinsky said new advertisements had been run and individual mailings sent out that included a reference to the property’s “P” designation in the county general plan, which limits development to public or semipublic uses.

“The General Services Administration recognizes there’s a problem here, that prospective bidders may have been misled . . . and it took steps to rectify that so-called misleading ad,” Malinsky said.

“Haven’t they done enough to satisfy the requirements?” Kenyon asked. But county attorneys said this action only misled prospective purchasers even further, because the “P” designation will not apply once the property is sold.

“The truth is that no private use is going to be permitted without . . . action (by the Board of Supervisors or the county’s Regional Planning Commission),” said Charles J. Moore, a deputy county counsel. “That fact is more important than any other information.”

This prompted Kenyon to comment, “What you’re saying is that when he buys the site he or she’s got himself a white elephant.”

But Malinsky said any sensible buyer would find out about zoning or planning limitations before putting down the $250,000 deposit required to get in on the bidding.

“If their intention is to protect prospective bidders, the county has no standing (to do so),” he said.

He said the county’s real motive was to scare away potential high bidders in order to step in and buy it for its own purposes at a lower price.