$12 Million OKd to Purchase Land for Santa Monicas Park : Congress: The appropriation is less than had been sought, but is the highest sum for any national park for the next fiscal year.

By ALAN C. MILLER

Oct. 30, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will receive $12 million during the next fiscal year for parkland acquisition, the highest sum for any national park, but substantially less than park advocates had sought.

The $12 million was contained in the Interior appropriations bill passed by Congress late Saturday night. The House had included the $12-million figure in its version of the measure; the Senate had appropriated $16 million.

The total approved for national parkland acquisition for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 was $137 million.

The $12 million for the Santa Monicas matches last year’s figure, which was the most money allocated for the sprawling Southern California park since 1984. Proponents, including Reps. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) and Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), had requested $33 million to buy long-sought and expensive properties.

Nevertheless, Beilenson said Monday in a prepared statement: “I’m very pleased about the $12-million appropriation. . . . It will help save hundreds of acres of open space there that would otherwise be developed.”

Overall, Congress has appropriated $114.7 million since 1980 to acquire land in the designated recreation area, a centrally located patchwork of residences, private property and parkland that stretches 46 miles from Griffith Park to Point Mugu. Only certain portions of open space in the sprawling area have been targeted for acquisition as parkland.

This is far less than had been anticipated when the park was established in 1978. At that time, it was projected that it would receive $125 million for land acquisition in the following five years, but opposition by Ronald Reagan’s Administration and budget cutbacks led to lower park funding nationwide.

A Los Angeles County bond issue on the Nov. 6 ballot would make another $76.5 million available to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency, to acquire and improve parkland. The proposed allocation is included in the Los Angeles County safe neighborhood parks act, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage.