Soka University Request for Plans Angers Park Officials

Animosity between Soka University and Santa Monica Mountains park officials flared again this week when Soka officials went over the heads of park agencies in Los Angeles to request details about government plans for the Soka property.

The university says it was simply appealing the decision made by officials in Los Angeles. But California park officials contend Soka had another purpose.

“Don’t believe for one moment they’re trying to get the information,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “This is trying to pull Washington’s strings with all their political power and political influence.”

The disagreement is the latest in a simmering dispute over Soka’s 580-acre site. Park officials want nearly half of Soka’s scenic property for a visitors center and headquarters of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area.

Soka has refused to sell and has proceeded with efforts to transform its 100-student English language facility into a 4,400-student liberal arts college--drawing strong opposition from park agencies. The Japan-based organization also has enlisted well-connected lobbyists and ex-government officials on its behalf.

As a compromise, Soka has offered to donate 71 acres and various buildings to the National Park Service, construct a $2.5-million park headquarters and set aside a $1-million endowment for park maintenance in exchange for a commitment by the Park Service to drop its opposition to the university expansion.

Park officials, who maintain the expanded university would wreak environmental havoc, have rejected the offer. They are considering condemnation proceedings.

The argument over disclosure of Park Service plans for the site is rooted in a disagreement over whether the environmental review must include the impact of alternative proposals. Soka maintains it must assess the full range of possibilities; park officials have countered that the school must only analyze its own plans to establish a university on the property.

John Schwarze, Los Angeles County zoning administrator, said in an interview Wednesday that Soka is right to seek the information. Schwarze’s department is overseeing the environmental review process that Soka has undertaken as part of its application to the County Board of Supervisors to build the university on its mountain campus.

Even though the Park Service has rejected Soka’s compromise proposal to establish both a park visitors center and a university, Schwarze said the county must still examine the potential effect of this initiative.

In addition, he said, the county must compare the potential effect of a park headquarters and visitors center with the effects of the university’s proposal. If park officials do not provide the information about the effect of its plans for the property, Schwarze said, the county will request it.

In recent months, Soka has asked park officials twice for details about their plans. Soka has posed various questions about the nature of the proposed park facility, the number of buildings involved and the projected daily traffic flow to and from the visitors center.

In a Dec. 9 letter, three park officials reiterated their opposition to Soka’s compromise proposal and maintained that state law requires Soka to evaluate only “the basic objectives of the project.” They said that this did not include the Park Service’s plans for a visitors center.

Park Service acquisition and development of the property would trigger a separate review process, which usually takes one to two years, the officials said. The letter was signed by Edmiston and David E. Gackenbach, superintendent of the national recreation area, and Daniel C. Preece, deputy regional director of the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

“They are trying to create a straw-man situation and say that, ‘whatever the park use, we will be better,’ ” Edmiston said in an interview. “The issue in front of the public is not the Park Service, it is Soka.”

Soka spokeswoman Bernetta Reade said Tuesday’s session in Washington was a follow-up to a meeting in July between Jeff Ourvan, Soka’s community relations director, and Jim Parham, assistant to Park Services Director James Ridenour, among others. On Tuesday, Ourvan, Michael Lewis, a Soka consultant and former aide to ex-Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, and two Soka architects met for 45 minutes with Parham and two other park officials.

“Part of the meeting was to bring them up to date on what had happened on the project,” Reade said. Also, she said, Soka representatives resubmitted their request for the information that they maintain they need for the environmental review.

“They said all they were seeking was technical information,” Park Service spokesman George Berklacy said. Agency officials said they would review the request.