Governor Enters Fray Over Land Exchange : Jordan Ranch: He calls a meeting of all those involved in the controversial proposal, but no decision is made.

Gov. Pete Wilson has stepped into the controversial proposal to exchange 59 acres of federal parkland in the Agoura Hills area for the adjacent Jordan Ranch land owned by entertainer Bob Hope.

Wilson met Wednesday with officials of Ventura County, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and an attorney for Hope to urge a quick resolution to the land-swap issue. The noon meeting took place in the governor’s office at his request, because he felt that there were state and national interests involved, officials said.

However, Wilson was only present for a few minutes at the start of the two-hour meeting, participants said. The issues were aired, but no decisions were made, they said.

Wilson’s press spokesperson, James Lee, said the governor told those attending the meeting that “he hoped that this face-to-face meeting will facilitate some compromise so that all parties can be happy.”

But some area officials not invited to the meeting were less than happy about Wilson’s intervention in the land-swap issue.

“I view it as a local land-use decision,” said Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). “I’m sorry the governor has chosen to involve himself in what is solely and strictly a local decision by the county of Ventura.”

Among the Ventura County officials present were county supervisors Maria VanderKolk and Vicky Howard, Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, Thousand Oaks Councilman Alex Fiore, Simi Valley Assistant City Manager Mike Sedell and Agoura Mayor Louise Rushoff.

Other participants were Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy; David Gackenbach, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area; Payson Wolff, Hope’s attorney; and officials of Potomac Investment Associates, which has an option to purchase the Hope property and develop it.

VanderKolk and Rushoff said the meeting was constructive in that it provided an opportunity for all to express their concerns. But both said they made it clear that the land exchange and the housing development it is tied to are local issues that must be decided by local officials.

“Vicky Howard and I made it clear that we were not there in a negotiating posture,” said VanderKolk, who was elected on a slow-growth campaign platform that included opposition to the Jordan Ranch development. “Whatever policies are decided that have to do with land use must be decided by the Board of Supervisors. That’s the bottom line.”

If approved, the land swap would provide an access road to a 750-home development and tournament golf course planned for Hope’s Jordan Ranch property.

Under the land exchange proposal, the National Park Service would swap 59 acres of Cheeseboro Canyon in a section of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Agoura Hills--land Potomac Investment needs for the access road--for 864 acres of the 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch in the hills south of Simi Valley. Hope has also offered to sell and donate an additional 4,836 acres in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains for a below-market price of $10 million.

The offer is contingent upon approval of both the land exchange and the Jordan development, which is pending before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

“Clearly, this was an effort to try and get moving toward a mutually beneficial deal for everybody,” Richard P. Sybert, director of the governor’s office of planning and research, said of Wednesday’s meeting.

Sybert said that, although Wilson expressed his “thanks for Mr. Hope’s generous offer,” he emphasized that his remarks did not constitute an endorsement of the land exchange.

“He didn’t say that the opportunity should be seized, nor did he say that it shouldn’t,” Sybert said. “He expressed concern that this was an environmentally sensitive development for Ventura County. He just feels that the region, the state and the nation--because it involves national parkland--have interests in the matter.”

But he said Wilson felt that the Jordan Ranch development was “far more preferred than something that might come down the pike five to 10 years from now that would do more environmental damage.”