Former Pleasure Faire Site : Park Service Calls Buying Agoura Land Top Priority

Private land formerly used for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Agoura was officially designated by the National Park Service on Friday as its top choice among properties sought for inclusion in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The announcement slightly increases the momentum behind efforts to buy the land for public use. But developer Brian Heller reiterated Friday that he and partner Arthur N. Whizin, an Agoura businessman who owns the property, do not intend to sell.

The Park Service, working in conjunction with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, hopes that Whizin and Heller can be persuaded to sell the land instead of using it for a residential development. The conservancy plans to appraise the land and perhaps make an offer for it in the next few months, a conservancy official said.

Park Service officials had never before publicly identified the 314-acre site as their top priority for expansion of the national park. But the choice was no surprise because the land had been mentioned for years as one of several priorities in the Park Service’s plan for land protection.

Although the land would be purchased by the conservancy, the money involved would come from the Park Service. Last month, the Park Service agreed to pay the conservancy $11 million. In return, the conservancy will give the Park Service 2,443 acres of conservancy land and will use $8 million of the $11 million to buy other property that the Park Service wants to acquire.

Friday, the Park Service said the $8 million should be spent on the Whizin property.

In a letter to the conservancy released Friday, Stanley T. Albright, Park Service Western regional director, explained the Park Service’s position.

The letter conveyed a sense of urgency, suggesting that the conservancy take action before Thursday, when Los Angeles County supervisors are expected to decide on a proposal by Heller to allow construction of 159 homes on the land. The county general plan limits density on the acreage to 103 homes.

Park officials have said they believe that the value of the land will escalate out of public reach if the county allows the additional home sites.

Heller said Friday that he is “still an unwilling seller to the Park Service or the conservancy. . . . Here I am now ready for final approval, and everything in our company is geared up for that, and now at the eleventh hour, they’re talking about purchasing it. I still contend they don’t have enough money to buy it at the fair-market value.”

The conservancy cannot make an offer on the property before finishing its appraisal, which is expected to be ready by March, conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston said. Any purchase of the Whizin property would require the Park Service’s $8 million as well as an undetermined amount of conservancy funds, Edmiston said.

“It is our intention, if the appraisal amount is within the amount that we have available, to make a fair-market-value offer for the property,” Edmiston said.

Local conservationists cheered the Park Service’s decision to push for the Whizin property.

“It’s long overdue that they assume this very positive posture,” said Margot Feuer, a Malibu conservationist. “I think it’s really putting their money where their mouth is.”