City Council OKs Final Step Toward Fryman Canyon Deal

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday voted 11 to 2 in favor of most of a complicated plan to buy Fryman Canyon in Studio City for more than $10 million, but lawmakers stopped short of sealing the controversial deal.

The city, environmentalists and neighbors want the canyon purchased for state parkland to keep it from being developed.

Still missing from the package was final council approval to transfer title of four city-owned properties, valued at $1.725 million, to developer Fred Sahadi as partial payment for the canyon.

A vote on the final deed transfer is expected Tuesday, said Councilman Michael Woo, the agreement’s key sponsor. Woo aides said consideration of this final part of the plan has been slowed by “procedural problems.”

Friday’s vote finalized transfer of jurisdiction over the four properties from the city’s Department of Water and Power, an independent agency, to the city’s Department of General Services, a council-controlled agency. It also approved the temporary use of $1.96 million in other city funds to finance the parkland purchase.

During Friday’s session, council members were assured that the DWP would not insist on being paid cash from the city’s general fund for the properties. Instead, a top DWP executive said, the utility would accept in-kind services from the city, such as the transfer of city property to DWP.