Plan Drawn Up for Purchase of Fryman Canyon : Land: Rustic property in Studio City would become a park instead of housing project if state agency agrees. City would put up $2 million of the $10.9-million price.

City officials have reached an agreement with a developer for the purchase of Fryman Canyon for $10.9 million to turn the rustic, steeply sloped Studio City land into a park, saving it from development as a luxury housing project.

Mayor Tom Bradley and Councilman Michael Woo plan today to unveil the proposal, which calls for the city to put up $2 million, private contributors to raise $300,000 and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to kick in the final $8.6 million, according to conservancy Executive Director Joe Edmiston.

However, the city’s agreement with developer Fred Sahadi must first be approved by the state parks agency’s seven-member board of directors before it can go forward. Edmiston and Carole Stevens, chairman of the conservancy’s board, raised doubts Thursday night over whether the deal will be acceptable to the conservancy.

The mayor’s office said in a press release Thursday that the “city and the developer have agreed upon the purchase price and the amount of funds the city and private individuals will contribute to save Fryman Canyon.”

City officials could not be reached for comment on what seemed to be the end to a months-long controversy over the 63-acre canyon property, owned by Sahadi and his wife, Helen.

Stevens said she has asked the state attorney general’s office for a formal opinion about the legality of purchasing a property for an amount in excess of a state-sanctioned appraised value. The conservancy has said the canyon is worth only $8.7 million, and Sahadi has had it appraised at $13.7 million.

Stevens said she has asked the state to conduct a new appraisal of the property and Edmiston indicated that if it shows a higher value, the conservancy might go ahead with the deal.

“I think there’s zero chance the conservancy will go forward without a (revised) state appraisal--it would be such a great break from tradition,” Edmiston said. “If we start buying land without appraisals then there’s no end to it. Then you, as a landowner, just go political if you don’t like the appraised price.”

The canyon has been at the center of controversy since last March when Bradley and Woo urged state and federal officials to intervene to block Sahadi’s project, claiming it would disturb a natural habitat surrounding a stream.

Within weeks, environmental activists--with backing from Bradley’s office--urged the city to declare the canyon a cultural-historic landmark. The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission granted the designation, but city approval of that status is still pending before the Los Angeles City Council.

Environmentalists also staged protests at woodsy Fryman Canyon. In one memorable incident last month, an activist used her Mercedes-Benz sedan to block contractors from entering the canyon while she contacted city officials by car phone.

Sahadi recently began posting no-trespassing signs and erecting a fence around the property, which is crossed by a popular hiking trail that until recently was believed to be firmly owned by the conservancy.