Conservancy Sues to Halt Fryman Canyon Development

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and developer Fred Sahadi to try to halt construction of luxury houses in Fryman Canyon off Mulholland Drive.

In the suit, the conservancy says the developer agreed to deed part of the land to the state but never followed through. It says that the city failed to enforce the deed requirement when it approved construction of 26 houses on the remainder of the land.

The suit asks that Sahadi be barred from developing his subdivision until that agreement is fulfilled.

The state attorney general’s office filed the suit on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Because it involves a state agency suing another governmental entity, Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp had to approve the filing.

Conservancy Director Joseph T. Edmiston said the suit was prompted by recent actions by the city and the developer.

During the past two weeks, Sahadi has systematically restricted public access to the 63-acre canyon by posting no-trespassing signs and erecting chain-link fences. On Aug. 27, he hired a security guard to keep people off the Betty B. Dearing Trail, and his attorney announced that the popular walkway was “out of business.”

On Friday, the Board of Public Works postponed a hearing to revoke Sahadi’s building permit.

The lawsuit also maintains that, when Sahadi gained initial city approval in 1982 to build the houses, the agreement included the condition that he deed 32 acres of land--including the trail--to the conservancy. Edmiston said the city erred in allowing the approval process to proceed without ever ensuring that the land had been dedicated.

Edmiston claims that, instead of actually signing the land over to the state, Sahadi merely showed city officials a letter from him to the conservancy in which he promised to give up the land.

“He said, ‘Trust us,’ and they did,” Edmiston said.

Based on those assurances, in 1987, the city approved grading of a construction haul road across part of the promised open space. The suit asks the city to set aside that approval because, it alleges, environmental protection laws were not adhered to.

The lawsuit was filed late Friday after Edmiston said Sahadi’s attorney, Benjamin M. Reznik, failed to accede to a conservancy demand that the land be deeded and the signs, fencing and security guard be removed.

Neither Reznik nor Sahadi could be reached for comment Monday, but Sahadi has said in the past that he intends to dedicate the land when construction is complete.