Gallegly Declares Neutrality on Land Swap

With the political heat rising, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) says he has taken no stand on a controversial proposal by developers to exchange land with the National Park Service so they can build a tournament golf course and 1,152 homes in the lawmaker’s district.

Gallegly has been courted by both sides in the emotional battle over the proposed exchange, involving federal parkland in scenic Cheeseboro Canyon and the adjacent Jordan Ranch in eastern Ventura County, owned by entertainer Bob Hope. Both parcels are within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a network of public parks and private lands.

Exhorted by local opponents to fight the swap, Gallegly has been given 10 campaign contributions totaling $4,300 by the developers, according to Federal Election Commission records.

At a time when the developer, Potomac Investment Associates, was seeking quick action on the proposed exchange, Gallegly and Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) sent a letter to National Park Service Director James Ridenour requesting an “expeditious” ruling on the proposal.

The letter last June did not endorse the exchange, however, and a Gallegly aide said it was sent because Potomac, local officials and residents all were eager to know the Park Service’s stand.

If the developers sought to influence him, Gallegly said, “It obviously hasn’t worked because you haven’t seen me out beating the drums” for the exchange.

Nonetheless, local opponents of the land swap have expressed disappointment that Gallegly has not come out against the proposal, which is the subject of a protest today at Cheeseboro Canyon.

“He should be out in the forefront, stopping the rape of a national park in his district,” complained Mary Wiesbrock, a member of the group Save Open Space, and one of several local opponents who met with Gallegly last year.

“Obviously, not everyone feels the same way,” responded Gallegly in an interview this week, adding that he would reserve judgment until environmental studies are completed and Ventura County officials rule on zoning changes the developers need.

A challenger for Gallegly’s congressional seat also has served notice that he will make the controversy a campaign issue. Richard Freiman, a Camarillo lawyer who is seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Gallegly in November, has attacked the proposed exchange as the “worst real estate deal since the Indians sold Manhattan.”

“That sounds like a pretty good statement his consultant came up with,” retorted Gallegly. “I think we’ve got to look at this in a very realistic sense, and see if the benefits outweigh the liabilities.”

Gallegly’s stand on the land exchange could be significant, both because it would occur in his district and because he sits on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and its national parks and public lands subcommittee, which oversee the Park Service.

The land swap has touched political nerves in Washington, as well as locally, prompting two assistant Interior Department secretaries to tour the properties recently, and sparking strong opposition from the Wilderness Society, an influential conservation group.

The proposal is also coming under scrutiny in Congress, where it will be examined at a May 1 hearing by the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. The panel is investigating the guidelines used by federal agencies to assess proposed land swaps.

Potomac’s proposal has fueled debate on whether national parks should be altered to accommodate private development, or whether such exchanges are a good way to expand park holdings in an era of soaring land prices and tight budgets.

Potomac, based in Gaithersburg, Md., needs Park Service land to build a four-lane road to the Jordan Ranch because existing roads are inadequate for the development it plans.

Under Potomac’s proposal, the Park Service would give the company 59 acres in lower Cheeseboro Canyon, but get 864 acres of the Jordan Ranch in return. Potomac would also sell the scenic China Flat portion of the ranch to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state parks agency.

Potomac has hailed the deal as a bonanza for the government, which the company says could not afford to buy the ranch property. Critics counter that the massive development triggered by the swap would degrade existing federal holdings in Cheeseboro Canyon, as well as the newly acquired acreage on the Jordan Ranch.

Park Service goals call for all of Jordan Ranch to be acquired and preserved as parkland, an aim that will be defeated if the exchange is approved, critics also say.

Gallegly got the 10 contributions from 1987 through 1989 from representatives of Potomac, the PGA Tour--which would operate the golf course--and law firms involved in the proposed development, according to a review of Federal Election Commission records.

Tim Finchem, deputy commissioner of the PGA Tour, which gave $1,050, said the contributions were for the sake of “building good will” in the community. He said he did not believe that the PGA Tour had talked to Gallegly about the proposal but that Potomac had done so.

Six of the contributions totaling $2,500 came during July and August, 1987, a critical period in which Potomac persuaded the Park Service to consider the exchange.

Initial efforts to acquire the road access were rebuffed in 1987 by Dan Kuehn, then superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and by deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Susan Recce.

But William Fairfield, a lawyer for the PGA Tour, sent a letter to Recce’s boss, former Assistant Interior Secretary William P. Horn. Three times in the letter to Horn, Fairfield dropped the name of William P. Clark, who had been Interior Secretary earlier in the Reagan Administration and also was Fairfield’s former law partner. Horn decided Potomac’s request should be reconsidered, leading to negotiations that produced the current proposal.

Gallegly said he had never discussed the proposal with Horn or Clark, and did not believe he had ever met Fairfield.

If the exchange is approved, Potomac will still need significant zoning concessions from Ventura County. The area’s current open space zoning requires a minimum lot size of 160 acres, meaning only 14 estate homes could be built on the property. Ventura County is preparing an environmental impact report on a requested change to urban zoning, independent of the Park Service review of the land exchange.

In reply to the Gallegly-Lagomarsino letter of last June, Park Service officials said they would not act on the exchange until after Ventura County completes its environmental impact report.

Lagomarsino, who also sits on the Interior Committee and represents northern Ventura County, said this week that he signed the letter to Ridenour “because Elton Gallegly asked me to.” He said he has no position on the exchange.

Gallegly, who is seeking a third term, is a real estate agent and former Simi Valley mayor considered supportive of development. But he also has testified in favor of federal funding to acquire lands in the Santa Monica Mountains for the national recreation area.

Gallegly said this week that Ventura County officials should take the lead in deciding if the Potomac project and land exchange go forward. When he was Simi Valley mayor, Gallegly said he “always was offended” when federal officials told local government what to do.

Ironically, Gallegly won his seat in 1986 by upsetting Tony Hope, Bob Hope’s son, in a hard-fought Republican primary. Now, he finds himself in the middle of a battle over one of the most valuable properties of the famous entertainer and real estate magnate.

Myron Levin reported from Chatsworth and Alan C. Miller reported from Washington, D.C.