Conservancy Makes Offer to Developer for Canyon : Studio City: The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy offers an undisclosed amount to keep Fryman Canyon from being developed.

As environmentalists and city and state officials kept watch against bulldozers at scenic Fryman Canyon in Studio City on Tuesday, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy made a bid to purchase the area to save it from development.

Joseph T. Edmiston, director of the conservancy, offered developer Fred Sahadi an undisclosed amount of money for the 63-acre canyon in a bid to save its mature oak trees, year-round stream and dozens of species of plants and wildlife.

Edmiston and Sahadi have discussed a possible sale for 10 weeks, but the conservancy previously made no firm offer to buy the land because of disagreements over its value, Edmiston said Tuesday.

However, because of public interest in the site and its ecological importance, Edmiston said, the conservancy offered Sahadi a specific sum. Edmiston said he did not want to reveal the amount of the offer for fear of jeopardizing a sale.

He said that if the offer is insufficient, the conservancy told Sahadi that it would accept binding arbitration on the price by a third party.

Sahadi could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, environmentalists, canyon users, and city and state officials Tuesday kept watch on the property, located west of Laurel Canyon and north of Mulholland Drive, to be sure that bulldozing did not begin despite a city stop-work order issued last week.

Sahadi--known in thoroughbred-racing circles as half-owner of the state’s largest horse breeding farm, in Paso Robles, and developer of a $13-million equine auction complex in Pomona--had planned to start grading the land this week to make way for a 26-house tract.

But the city Department of Building and Safety prohibited work from starting after the city Cultural Heritage Commission agreed to consider requests by foes of the development that the canyon be designated a culturally significant site. The opponents argued that the canyon should be preserved for future generations as the last remnant of the natural environment of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The state Department of Fish and Game and the Army Corps of Engineers have also prohibited Sahadi from beginning work until additional environmental studies are completed because the project will affect a stream and wetlands, both specially protected.

But some opponents of development and government officials said they feared Sahadi might try to begin work before his grading permit--granted by the city in 1988--expires May 1. About 15 members of Earth First! and the Urban Wilderness Coalition--organized by Laurel Canyon resident Judy Marx--gathered at an overlook west of Laurel Canyon on Mulholland Drive early Tuesday morning, prepared to block bulldozers with their bodies if necessary. State Fish and Game wardens and city officials also monitor the site daily to be sure no work begins until additional permits are obtained.

In the meantime, Edmiston said, the conservancy was pressing efforts to arrive at a sales price Sahadi would accept. Earlier this year, the two parties jointly hired a consultant who appraised the land at $13.7 million, said Kenneth Bley, Sahadi’s attorney. But a state review of the appraisal concluded that the appraisal had overvalued the property and set a lower value, Edmiston said.

The conservancy Tuesday offered that lower amount for the property, Edmiston said.

Although the canyon would be one of the agency’s most expensive acquisitions on a per-acre basis, Edmiston said, “more people will use this because it is right off Mulholland . . . an island of wilderness in the city, a little jewel in the middle of development.”

Sahadi’s plans call for filling in the canyon with dirt from an existing ridge, creating a flat space on which to build 26 luxury houses.