County Won’t Sell Coast Land

Though a number of South Bay individuals and organizations have plans for 53 acres of undeveloped coast land owned by Los Angeles County along the Rancho Palos Verdes-San Pedro border, the county has shelved plans to dispose of the property.

The county bought the land in the early 1970s for a park that was never developed.

The flurry of interest by environmentalists in recent weeks came after the county Regional Planning Commission acted on a finding by the county Department of Parks and Recreation that the land is no longer needed. It said that sale of the land in Rancho Palos Verdes, on a bluff overlooking the ocean, would not conflict with the county general plan.

While acknowledging that the department began the process of declaring it surplus by asking for an appraisal, chief park planner Jim Park said last week that there has been no decision on what to do with the land. He called the commission action premature and said the county’s options are to let the property remain open space, to develop a park or sell the land.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, a nonprofit group wishing to acquire land for public use, said it wants to work with Rancho Palos Verdes to preserve the land as an undeveloped area. Rancho Palos Verdes resident Kay Bara has proposed that the four peninsula cities jointly buy the land.

Park said that earlier, the Sierra Club advocated keeping the land as open space and that inquiries about buying it have come from San Pedro mobile home residents who want to develop their own mobile home park. Orange County developer Barry Hon also has expressed interest in buying it for homes, a hotel and golf course.