Sen. Davis’ Corral Canyon Bill Aims to Save Land Swap : Malibu: Entertainer Bob Hope’s controversial housing project could get an official OK if he agrees to donate 5,000 undeveloped acres for parkland.

Declaring that his goal is to maintain open space for parkland, state Sen. Ed Davis is seeking to keep alive a controversial land swap between entertainer Bob Hope and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

The Santa Clarita Republican has introduced legislation intended to allow the state Coastal Commission to approve a housing project in Malibu’s Corral Canyon as long as Hope agrees to give at least 5,000 undeveloped acres to the conservancy.

“It would be a very wonderful thing to be able to acquire the land,” Davis said, citing the ecological value of Hope’s property.

But Charles Fennessey, a Davis aide, said the senator has no plans to press for immediate adoption of the legislation, which he said could be used to keep the land swap rolling.

Some critics of the Hope development, however, regard the measure as Davis’ way to pressure them to reach an agreement on the land swap.

Specifically, the Davis bill would allow the Coastal Commission to issue a permit for the Corral Canyon houses if Hope donates at least 5,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency that acquires open space.

It is unclear whether the bill, as worded, would give the Coastal Commission greater authority to overlook the earth-grading violations that blocked the Corral Canyon project in the first place. Hope intends to sell most of the 5,700 acres that he would turn over to park agencies in the deal, not donate them.

Fennessey said the bill grew out of the Coastal Commission’s rejection last year of a plan by Potomac Investment Associates to build 26 luxury houses on land Hope owns in Corral Canyon. The Corral Canyon project was considered the linchpin of the swap.

Davis’ legislation has prompted concern from environmentalists and Malibu and Ventura officials and drawn opposition from the conservancy board. Critics say it is a special-interest bill that would undermine the Coastal Commission’s authority.

Underlying the dispute is whether an agreement on the land swap can still be cobbled together, even though the Coastal Commission in December turned down a major element of the swap--a request from Potomac to grade 2.2 million cubic yards of earth to make way for the Corral Canyon development.

The complex deal involving the 339-acre Corral Canyon property was aimed at allowing Hope to develop his 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch property in Ventura County while preserving valuable mountain land for parks. If it is eventually approved, the land swap would provide an access road to a 750-house development and tournament golf course planned for the Jordan Ranch property in the hills south of Simi Valley.

Under the 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--property needed for an access road to the housing development--for 864 acres of the Jordan Ranch. Hope has also offered to sell and donate to the conservancy and park service an additional 4,836 acres in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains for a below-market price of $10 million.

In the wake of the Coastal Commission decision, representatives of Hope and Potomac were pessimistic about the chances of the arrangement ever being carried out unless Corral Canyon, the focus of the Davis bill, is a part of the equation.

But last month, the deal was revived when both Gov. Pete Wilson and Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr. endorsed the land swap--although they did not endorse a specific number of houses at Jordan Ranch.

Fred Maas, vice president of Potomac Investment Associates, reiterated last week that the land swap is “still in jeopardy” but confirmed that Potomac is attempting “to work out a solution with all the disparate groups.”

“The deal as it was originally proposed is going to have to be reconfigured,” Maas said. While Potomac has not taken a position on the Davis bill, Maas said, he welcomes it “as a statement of Sen. Davis of the significance of our transaction.”

But Maas stressed that his company has had no contact with Davis on the bill and is not pursuing “a legislative strategy” to complete the deal. Davis aide Fennessey said the senator got the idea for the bill after reading two newspaper editorials following the Coastal Commission action.

Malibu City Councilman Larry Wan said he doubted whether Davis’ legislation would be necessary because negotiations over the land deal are continuing.

Initially, Wan said, he was concerned that the Davis bill would direct the Coastal Commission to overlook some of the concerns about grading because the Corral Canyon project “was part of an overall land-exchange project.”

But Wan and other officials said they have been assured by Davis’ office that the senator does not plan to press for passage of the legislation.

But in an interview, the senator left open the door to moving ahead with the measure.

Some officials have suggested that the bill is Davis’ way of signaling his interest in preserving open space. For instance, Madelyn Glickfeld, a member of the Coastal Commission and the conservancy board, said she believes that Davis is sending a message that the land deal is important to him and “to make sure this open space isn’t lost.”

But Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk questioned whether Davis should have introduced the bill in the first place because predictions that the swap “would fall through” have failed to materialize. She labeled the bill “a backhanded way” of obtaining permission to develop Corral Canyon.

Frank Angel, a Malibu lawyer who represents the Sierra Club in litigation over Corral Canyon, blasted the Davis proposal, saying the legislation is basically “a custom-made bill for Potomac Investment Associates and Mr. Bob Hope. For them and them alone, it changes Coastal Act policy.”

Davis brushed aside the criticism, saying he was not acting on behalf of any of the parties involved in the Hope land deal. Said Davis: “I’m just trying to do the right thing. . . . People aren’t used to that.”