3-Way Deal to Buy Agoura Site : Financial Renaissance Needed for Faire to Survive

Despite light attendance at a Sunday fund-raiser, a group of Renaissance Pleasure Faire employees and enthusiasts is optimistic about a new plan to save the Agoura site from becoming a housing tract.

Under the plan, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the National Park Service each would put up a third of the $14 million the landowner wants for the 314-acre property. The Historic Oaks Foundation, formally incorporated two months ago by Pleasure Faire employees and supporters, would raise the other $4.6 million.

Kevin Patterson, foundation president and the son of fair founder and operator Phyllis A. Patterson, said he was confident the plan would draw enough donations from corporations and foundations to save the land, although Sunday’s $50-a-plate picnic drew only about 200 of the 2,800 people invited. In a year of campaigning, the foundation has raised only about $25,000, Kevin Patterson said.

Carole Stevens, vice chairman of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said the plan’s chances are “hairy, like walking on a tightrope” because of limited government resources. The property contains many mature oak trees and is next to the old Paramount Ranch studio, which the National Park Service bought in 1980.

The conservancy voted April 5 to consider entering an agreement with the National Park Service and the foundation if enough money becomes available.

Preservationists are under pressure to raise the money quickly because landowner Art Whizin plans to build 160 homes this year. If his project is approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the fair, held at the site for the last 25 years, probably will have its final run there this spring.

Stevens said at least three obstacles must be overcome for the plan to succeed. First, voters must approve a $776-million bond measure on the June ballot if the conservancy is to come up with its third of the price tag.

Second, Congress must allocate about $10 million to the National Park Service for the Santa Monica branch to pay off existing debts and contribute toward the purchase of the fair site.

Third, the foundation must raise capital from the private sector to meet its one-third obligation.

Held on six weekends annually, the fair transforms the rolling hills into an Elizabethan English village. Pageant operators have lost money for the last five years, according to court documents. They face debts of $4 million and have filed for bankruptcy.