Hope Agrees to Transfer of Land for Parks

Entertainer Bob Hope signed an agreement Thursday to transfer about 5,700 acres of mountain property at three sites in Los Angeles and Ventura counties to a state parks agency for a below-market $20 million, officials said.

The deal is one of the largest and most significant parkland transactions in recent Southern California history, said Joseph P. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Hope’s agreement with the conservancy would preserve part of a wildlife corridor and prevent development of a trash dump in the Santa Susana Mountains, kill plans for a golf course and country club on land Hope owns in Malibu, and scale back a huge housing project and another golf course on land in eastern Ventura County.

However, all could unravel and the land could revert back to Hope if a controversial land swap with the federal government sought by developers of one of Hope’s tracts does not go through.

The centerpiece of the agreement involves transfer to the conservancy the 4,369-acre Runkle Ranch, which straddles the Los Angeles-Ventura county line in the Santa Susana Mountains. The ranch will be kept as a public park and wildlife corridor.

In addition, Hope will donate Blind Canyon, part of the ranch property, to the conservancy, scratching the possibility that it will be turned into a major trash dump. The conservancy will purchase the remainder of Runkle Ranch for $20 million to be paid over four years.

Money for the land will come from Proposition 117 bond revenues or other, as yet undetermined, sources if the wildlife initiative fails to pass in June, Edmiston said.

Hope could not be reached for comment Thursday. But the architects of the deal who had negotiated in secret for weeks--Edmiston and the entertainer’s attorney, Payson Wolff--said they were happy with the outcome.

Edmiston said he was “incredibly pleased.”

“I am euphoric,” said Wolff. “I am absolutely thrilled. I think that it is extremely favorable to the public.”

The market value of Hope’s 5,700 acres could not be determined, but Edmiston said the sum would be well over $20 million.

The deal was expected to reduce criticism that Hope was refusing to discuss the future of his mountain landholdings with officials who sought to acquire some of the property for parkland.

Until now, Hope chose to option much of his land to developers who would pay top dollar because he “regards his properties as investments and he is fully entitled to a fair return on them,” Wolff said in an earlier interview.

Wolff declined to discuss what the financial effect would be on Hope, or on the developers with options on his lands.

But Wolff said the 86-year old entertainer had felt “hurt and angered . . . by the criticisms that he’s received . . . that he is selfish or that he hasn’t been a charitable person or a good citizen.”

On the other hand, Wolff said, Hope was “impressed by the depth of the feeling and the concern” about his property “ultimately belonging in public ownership.”

Wolff said Hope had offers for “substantially more” than $20 million for the Runkle Ranch property from “at least three” potential developers of a trash dump there, including the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which has been considering Blind Canyon and other potential sites for a future landfill.

The agreement also scrubs a controversial proposal for a golf course and country club to be built on Hope’s 339-acre Corral Canyon property in Malibu. Hope instead will donate 200 acres of the tract, including prime wildlife habitat along a stream, to the conservancy. The conservancy will transfer it to the National Park Service as an addition to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Sun Pacific, the development firm that had optioned the land from Hope, could seek approval to build homes on the remainder of the land. But a provision of the deal bars the firm from asking Los Angeles County to rezone the land for more than the maximum of 62 homes that current land-use plans permit.

At the Jordan Ranch in eastern Ventura County, the agreement sweetens existing offers to reduce environmental damage from a golf course and a housing development proposed for the property, which abuts the Cheeseboro Canyon unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Potomac Investment Associates, which optioned the land from Hope, previously proposed building 1,152 homes along with a tournament play golf course, but now must slash the proposal to 750 homes, leaving Ventura County officials free to reduce the number further.

In addition, an area of oak-studded meadows with panoramic views within Jordan Ranch known as China Flat will be donated to the conservancy and not sold for $2 million as previously proposed.

But the trigger for the Jordan Ranch project--and the linchpin of the entire deal with Hope--remains the proposed swap of federal land in Cheeseboro Canyon for Jordan Ranch land. Potomac needs the federal land to build an access road to its development.

In return for the 59-acre road site, Potomac long ago had offered the National Park Service 864 acres of Jordan Ranch.

The deal with Hope requires that if the exchange comes through, the width of the proposed access road be reduced from four to two lanes. The road also would have to be built through an underground tunnel.

However, some environmentalists already have served notice that they will continue to oppose the exchange on grounds that the Park Service has no business taking actions that may trigger major development.

Should the exchange, which must get federal approval, collapse, Hope can take back his lands--a provision that steps up pressure on the National Park Service to go along with the trade.

Hope’s agreement also saves the conservancy $10 million it had set aside in hopes of buying some of his land, freeing the money to go toward acquisition of the scenic Soka University site in Calabasas. The university is owned by a Buddhist sect that is seeking a major expansion of its campus.

BOB HOPE LAND DEAL The Plan in Brief

The agreement between Bob Hope and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would put into public ownership about 5,700 acres of Hope’s 7,400 acres of mountain land.

1. Runkle Ranch. Biggest parcel, 4,369 acres owned by Hope in Santa Susana Mountains. Includes part of Blind Canyon, under consideration by L.A. County Sanitation Districts as landfill. Hope would donate Blind Canyon holdings to the Conservancy immediately and sell the rest for $20 million over four years.

2. Jordan Ranch. Residential and golf course development on 2,408 acres owned by Hope. Number of homes would be reduced and the amount of open space increased.

3. China Flat. Scenic area of oak meadows within Jordan Ranch that was to be sold to Conservancy for $2 million. Instead would be donated outright.

4. Corral Canyon. Housing and golf course on 339 Hope-owned acres in Malibu. Golf course would be scrapped and about 200 acres donated to Conservancy, then transfered to the National Park Service. Developers could seek permits to build on the other 139 acres.

5. Cheeseboro Canyon. Owned by National Park Service. Jordan Ranch developers previously proposed to trade agency 864 acres of Jordan Ranch for 59 acres of Cheeseboro to use for access road to the development. Under the agreement, access road would be reduced from four lanes to two and tunneled underground to lessen environmental impacts. This trade is linchpin of the agreement. If it does not occur, Hope would be free to abrogate the deal and the Runkle Ranch, Corral Canyon and Jordan Ranch lands would revert to him.

6. Soka University. Scenic, 248-acre tract in Calabasas where Buddhist school plans major expansion. Deal with Hope would free $10 million set aside by Conservancy to buy China Flat and Corral Canyon land. Money could be pooled with other government funds for attempted purchase of Soka.