Park Service Says Official’s Support of Swap Is ‘Premature’

The National Park Service said Thursday it has taken no position on a proposed land trade in Cheeseboro Canyon between the government and a private developer who wants to build a road through the parkland, despite enthusiastic support for the swap by a park superintendent.

Daniel R. Kuehn, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, has supported since May a controversial proposal by a developer to build an access road on land the company would receive from the park in exchange for a larger amount of adjacent land in Ventura County.

But a spokesman for Park Service Director William Penn Mott Jr. said the decision by Kuehn--who had initially opposed the idea of a road through the park--was “premature and strictly personal.”

“It has no authoritative weight,” said George Berklacy, the spokesman for Mott.

The impact of the Park Service’s neutral stance on the proposed land swap is uncertain, although Berklacy said Mott reserves the right to kill the land exchange.

“Only the director has the authority to approve these land swaps,” Berklacy said.

Potomac Investment Associates has offered to exchange 800 acres for 60 acres of Cheeseboro Canyon parkland on which it would build the four-lane road. The road would provide access to Jordan Ranch, which Potomac has an option to buy from entertainer Bob Hope. Potomac and the PGA Tour want to build 1,553 homes and a golf course on the property.

County Decision

The Park Service probably will not take a stand on the swap unless Ventura County officials approve that development, Berklacy said. “If they approve it, we’ll take it seriously,” he said. “If the zoning folks turn down the developer, that ends that ballgame right there.”

But Potomac’s proposed bargain sale of parkland to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, disclosed this week, “definitely sweetens the pot” and could affect the Park Service’s neutral position, said William G. Thomas, a spokesman for the Park Service’s regional office in San Francisco.

In a deal separate from the land swap, Potomac has offered to sell the conservancy two key pieces of land for $2 million. The land would be paid for with funds from Proposition 70, a recently passed state ballot initiative that provides money for park and wildlife preservation.

Kuehn has said he endorses the land swap because he believes it is the only way for the Park Service to obtain the portion of the Jordan Ranch land from Potomac. But Kuehn has said his support is conditional upon the results of upcoming land appraisals and an environmental-impact study.

Kuehn has faced sharp criticism from area homeowners and conservationists, including Save the Mountain Park Coalition, who fear the effect of the road’s traffic and noise on the park’s wildlife and ecosystem.

Mott discussed the land swap June 30 with two officials of the Sierra Club, a national conservation group, but did not express an opinion about it, said Sally M. Reid, a Sierra Club board member who attended the meeting. Mott said Kuehn has given the false impression that the land swap has been cleared with the Park Service, according to Reid.

But Thomas said Kuehn is free to disagree with his superiors, adding: “This wasn’t disobedience, it was disagreement.”

For his part, Kuehn expressed bewilderment Thursday that the Park Service does not necessarily concur with his position.

“I negotiated in good faith, and I expressed my opinion about what I think is in the park’s best interest,” Kuehn said. “If somebody wants to overrule me, they certainly can.”

Peter N. Kyros Jr., a Potomac spokesman, said he remains confident that the Park Service will support the swap because his firm’s proposals are “so clearly in the best long-term interest of the park.”

“Superintendent Kuehn’s view . . . is going to be a very widely held view,” Kyros predicted.

Any parkland deal approved by the Park Service could be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Interior.