Trust Land Seen as Vital to Park

Of all the twists and turns in the San Dieguito River Valley, surely none is stranger than the one that pits Roger Revelle against the very people who would be expected to sing his praises.

But the Roger Revelle of the San Dieguito River Valley is not the Revelle who is world-renowned as an oceanographer, former director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, co-founder of UC San Diego and one of the more distinguished and versatile men of science in this century.

Rather, this is the Revelle who is the most visible and outspoken member of San Dieguito Trust, a landholding trust that for two decades has owned 368 acres in the lower valley next to Interstate 5. Revelle is also part owner of another large parcel farther east.

Gateway of the Valley

There are several hundred property owners in the San Dieguito River Valley, but the trust property is the gateway of the valley and is highly visible to the public. It is seen by many park proponents as key to the park planning.

In recent years, the trust has aroused the wrath of environmentalists in at least three ways:

- By the treatment of its land by its tomato-farming tenants, the Ukegawa Brothers.

- By filing an application several days after the November, 1987, election--during which former trust attorney Bruce Henderson was elected to the San Diego City Council--to build 30 homes less than a mile east of I-5.

- And by erecting a roadblock to the preservation of the valley for parkland unless it receives what it considers full value for the property or development rights elsewhere. A project manager for the trust puts the value at $30 million; the city puts the figure closer to $14 million.

“Roger Revelle, a great environmentalist? Ha!” said San Diego City Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer. “He was an environmentalist until his own ox was gored. I’ve known Roger for years, and I’ve always thought of him as a great preservationist. What a shame he’s acted like this.”

Said Alice Goodkind, president of the 350-member Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley: “What the trust has allowed to be done on its property is dreadful. The destruction of wetlands is very insensitive to the environment.”

Not Liable to Back Down

Revelle, 79, says he is stung by the criticism, which he finds unfair and ill-informed. As an officer of the trust, he says, it has been his duty to safeguard the investment, and he has no plans to change.

“I’m not liable to back down,” he said. “There wouldn’t have been any University of California if I backed down.”

He says he supports the concept of a park in the San Dieguito River Valley, but only if property owners are adequately compensated.

“Obviously, I’m concerned with property rights--for my sake, my wife, my family,” Revelle said. “We can’t just give it away. A lot of people’s retirements will be very bleak if we did that.”

Revelle is particularly annoyed by Goodkind.

“As far as I can tell, she’s making entirely irresponsible statements,” he said. “What the hell have I done that isn’t environmentally sound?”

Wants Development Rights

Revelle said he is willing to dedicate up to half of the San Dieguito Trust property to the city of San Diego, in exchange for rights to further develop the balance of his land, which falls within the city’s future urbanizing zone, where development is restricted.

“That would be a win-win situation for everyone, but they (city officials) won’t let us,” said Roy Collins, project manager for the trust property.

Neither Revelle nor Collins--himself a commercial developer--will say how they want to further develop the property, beyond the 30 homes already proposed.

Revelle said he was unaware of concern expressed by the California Coastal Commission, the state Department of Fish and Game, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the San Diego city attorney’s office and the federal Environmental Protection Agency about how the property was being handled by the Ukegawa Brothers.

A letter from the EPA on Nov. 3, 1986, to Henderson refers to the impact on wetlands of the “filling, grading, discing and ditching” on trust property.

“I’ve never seen any” of the letters from those agencies, Revelle said.

Henderson, who resigned as trust attorney when he decided to run for council, says he tried to keep his clients informed of the correspondence but often found it difficult to contact Revelle because of Revelle’s heavy travel schedule to scientific gatherings. He said he cannot recall specifically telling Revelle of the letters.

He added that Revelle is being unfairly slammed by people who want to hold him to a “special standard” because of his scientific reputation. Others disagree.

“It’s awful what the trust tenants did,” Wolfsheimer said. “They were literally closing off the river, and every time an agency would tell them to cease and desist, they’d just thumb their nose at them and look through their rose-colored glasses.”

Two days after Henderson was elected to the council in 1987--with heavy backing from Revelle--the trust applied to build 30 homes on 10 acres on the southern slope of the valley.

Documents filed with the city Planning Department showed that the necessary engineering reports had been completed at least a week before the election.

Some pro-park environmentalists like attorney Leo Wilson speculate that the filing of the application was delayed so that it would not harm Henderson’s election chances by making an issue out of the valley’s precarious future.

Still Under Review

“We’re not unmindful of the timing,” Collins said. “People can draw all the implications they want. . . . They’re all unfounded.”

The application, which is still being reviewed by planners, has also led to speculation that trust members are trying to “bid up” the value of their property because they know it will be high on the shopping list of park planners.

“They (the trust) have a right to build those homes, but it’s going to visually impact whatever happens next in the valley,” Goodkind said. “I think it’s tragic. I wonder if they’re just jockeying for value in hopes the city wants to buy the property.”

A protracted legal battle with the trust could scuttle park plans before they begin, environmentalists fear.

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have explored buying some of the trust property and adjacent property and restoring the wetlands. Those plans remain uncertain, however.

From Revelle’s viewpoint, Goodkind and others working toward preserving the river valley want the park to be underwritten by the property owners by selling cheap or having their land zoned as open space.

“I don’t see how they can think like this: ‘We want you to lose your shirt because we see a value in it,’ ” Revelle said.