Wilson Favors the Concept of a Parkland Swap : Jordan Ranch: The governor does not necessarily support the deal involving land owned by Bob Hope.

Gov. Pete Wilson said Thursday that he supports the concept of swapping federal parkland in the Agoura Hills area as a means for state and federal park agencies to acquire large parcels of land owned by Bob Hope in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains.

Wilson said he supports a land exchange but does not necessarily favor the deal proposed by Hope and developers who want to build on the entertainer’s Jordan Ranch property in eastern Ventura County. He said it is up to county officials to decide details of the proposed exchange and of the housing development to which it is tied.

“Land use is obviously the duty, responsibility and prerogative of the local officials involved,” said Wilson, interviewed at a political fund-raiser.

“It is my hope that they can come to some agreement that would permit what I would consider a very significant acquisition” for state and federal park agencies, the governor said.

Wilson expressed tentative support for the land swap in June while serving as a member of the U.S. Senate. But this is the first time that he has intervened in the Jordan Ranch deal.

Ventura County, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and National Park Service officials and an attorney for Hope were called by Wilson to a meeting in Sacramento on Wednesday to discuss Jordan Ranch. The governor, according to those present, encouraged a quick resolution to the land deal.

While the meeting with officials of the governor’s office lasted for two hours, Wilson was only present for a few minutes, area officials said. The governor stressed that the land swap is a state and national issue, not only a local one, participants said.

“No one is being strong-armed here, but I do want to make it clear to you that there is a great interest--and a very legitimate interest, I think--on the part of people who are not immediate parties to this issue,” Wilson said during the meeting, which was tape-recorded by an official of the governor’s office and played for the news media.

Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard, who attended the meeting along with Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, said Wilson stressed that he did not want to circumvent an environmental review or the public hearing process on the proposed land exchange and Jordan Ranch development.

Wilson has no direct control over the land exchange, which must be approved by the Board of Supervisors and the National Park Service, area officials said. David Gackenbach, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said the parks service will abide by the wishes of the supervisors.

If approved, the land swap would provide an access road to a 750-home development and tournament golf course planned for the Jordan Ranch property in the hills south of Simi Valley.

Under the land-exchange proposal, the National Park Service would swap 59 acres of Cheeseboro Canyon in a section of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area in Agoura Hills--property needed for an access road to the housing development--for 864 acres of the 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch. Hope also has 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 Ranch development, pending before the supervisors, whose majority has expressed concern about the project.

“We would have to literally rewrite our General Plan to make this development fit in,” said VanderKolk, elected on a slow-growth platform that included opposition to the Jordan development.

The board this week ordered Potomac Investment Associates, which has an option to purchase and develop the Jordan Ranch property, to pay for further environmental study on the project. An earlier environmental impact report on the project as it was originally proposed called for 1,150 homes, but Potomac has agreed to reduce the development to 750 homes. The new environmental study should be completed by May or June, county officials said.

Meanwhile, Assembly members Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) complained that they were not invited to Wednesday’s meeting, or told about it.

“I’m just surprised he would get involved with that without including members of the Legislature from that area,” Wright said of the governor.

Officials of the environmental group Save Open Space also expressed displeasure that they were not invited to the meeting.

“We feel Gov. Wilson hasn’t gotten the straight story,” said Mary Wiesbrock, director of the 250-member group. “The proposed land exchange will set a national precedent and open our national parklands to development. . . . “

Fred Maas, vice president of Potomac, said he welcomes the governor’s involvement in the land-exchange issue.

Maas said Wednesday’s meeting was significant because it underscored that the land deal involves “not just Ventura County, not just Simi Valley or Malibu, but that this is in fact a regional matter that calls for a regional solution.”