L.A. Council Balks at Fryman Canyon Purchase : Parkland: Yaroslavsky says a $1.96-million city contribution could abort 2 Westside site acquisitions.

The Los Angeles City Council delayed a vote Tuesday on a proposal to spend $1.96 million to help buy Fryman Canyon for parkland after Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky expressed concern that the high price might jeopardize other park acquisitions.

Yaroslavsky said there are two possible park sites in his Westside district--one near Fossil Ridge and the other in Benedict Canyon--that might not be acquired if the money is spent on the Fryman Canyon purchase.

The decision to delay a vote until Nov. 7 came on the recommendation of Councilman Michael Woo, whose district includes the steep and heavily wooded canyon where property owner Fred Sahadi has proposed building 26 luxury houses.

Woo told colleagues there was no need to allocate the money as long as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state park agency, is studying whether to participate in a plan, devised by Woo and Mayor Tom Bradley, to buy the 63-acre canyon for $10.9 million.

The Bradley-Woo plan called for the conservancy to put up $8.7 million, the city to contribute $1.96 million and private parties to provide $250,000 in charitable contributions.

The conservancy board of directors on Monday reaffirmed its “historic interest” in buying Fryman Canyon but refused to approve the Bradley-Woo plan until it checked with the state attorney general’s office and the state Department of General Services about the terms. The conservancy board gave itself a Nov. 5 deadline to reach a decision.

The conservancy has been reluctant to participate in a deal to buy the canyon if the total price is more than $8.7 million--a valuation once agreed upon as fair by state officials. Conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston has expressed concerns about paying $10.9 million when his agency does not have a state-approved appraisal justifying the price.

Questions about the deal also began to surface on the council floor Tuesday. Yaroslavsky warned his colleagues that if too much is paid for Fryman Canyon, other worthwhile Santa Monica Mountains parkland purchases “would be blown out the window.” The per-acre price would be among the highest in the history of the conservancy.

“Up until now you haven’t heard from other quarters,” Yaroslavsky said. “But this decision may have an impact on other projects and we need to minimize that. There are major acquisitions that are much cheaper than this one. I don’t think the people want to pay a developer more for his property than it’s worth.”

Woo, in a testy reply, said: “I am not proposing to pay the developer more than it’s worth.” The councilman also pledged to work with other council members to be “sensitive to parks projects in your districts.”

Yaroslavsky’s concerns echoed those of Joyce Coleman, a top Sierra Club official, who objected to any conservancy attempt “to raid funds set aside to protect and expand Solstice Canyon Park” in Malibu. For it to pay $8.7 million for Fryman Canyon would require the conservancy to drop other acquisition projects.

The council agreed to set Nov. 7 as the next date for taking up the question of spending the $1.96 million.

Also Tuesday, the council voted 6 to 5 to reject a plan to make half of Fryman Canyon a cultural-historic landmark. Opponents of the housing development originally sought landmark status as a means to preserve the land. But in recent months, that proposal had taken a back seat to a plan to acquire the Studio City site as a park.