Ojai Valley Land-Swap Plan Meets Skepticism : Environment: Open space is not the key issue in a Japanese businessman’s tentative offer to donate 1,800 acres if he can build a nearby golf course, groups say.

A Japanese businessman’s proposal to donate 1,800 acres of mountain land west of Ojai to a local land conservancy if he is permitted to build an exclusive golf course is being met with skepticism by area environmentalists.

Past opponents of the proposed Farmont Golf Club say the tentative offer clouds the environmental concerns associated with the course, proposed for 200 acres of the businessman’s property near California 150.

“My mind tends to deal with the actual project, and what it may do to the area,” said Pat Baggerly of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County.

Baggerly said she strongly supports preserving open space, but added that it is not the key issue in the golf course proposal.

“This project will bring with it a lot of traffic, deterioration of the air quality and will use a large amount of water--all the environmental problems anyone has to deal with when trying to do a development here,” she said.

Stan Greene, president of Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, was also critical.

“I don’t believe the developer of any project should be able to buy influence in a community by the way they spread money around,” he said.

Farmont Corp. officials described their offer to preserve the scenic, mountainous area next to the proposed course as proof that the private club--the dream of a Japanese broadcasting tycoon who loves golf--could significantly benefit local residents.

If the land-swap offer eventually helps gain project approval, officials said, it would be an indication that the Farmont team has learned from its rejection by the Board of Supervisors in 1987, when criticism from local residents helped derail the project.

The chief criticism in 1987 focused on the size of the proposed development. As previously planned, the project included a 50,000-square-foot clubhouse and two dozen private bungalows next to the course, which the board ruled was an inappropriate use of open space.

A second major criticism was that the project offered little in the way of recreational or other benefits to the local community.

Since then, Farmont officials have gone to great lengths to ward off opposition. To meet supervisors’ approval, the course underwent three dramatic redesigns and now complies with development allowed in an open space zone.

The 20,000-square-foot clubhouse is the maximum allowed under open space zoning, which also allows golf courses. The remainder of the previous Farmont proposal, described as a Camp David West where world business and political leaders could meet and play golf, has been scrapped.

Company officials trying to raise support for the project are now focusing directly on Ojai residents in an effort to convince them that the course would benefit the area.

According to Farmont environmental consultant Steve Craig, who announced the land swap offer, plans are under way to carve several hiking paths into the area surrounding the golf course.

The new paths would not only provide local hiking trails, but would also provide an easement to enter backcountry in the Los Padres National Forest that is now inaccessible.

Another part of the proposed open space preserve would become an American Indian ceremonial ground, Craig said.

Despite public comments by Craig and Farmont Corp. officials, however, the head of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy says he has not received anything resembling a formal offer of a swap.

Phillip Moncharsh, whose group would most logically be involved in any such swap, said he has been approached on several occasions by Farmont Corp. officials about the project, but that the talks have never led to a specific offer.

“During these talks we informed them of our commitment to open space, as well as our view that it is desirable to maintain open space in conjunction with any proposal they might make to the county,” Moncharsh said.

“We assured them that we are willing and able to accept and manage the 1,800 acres, if that is their final proposal to the county. But right now there has been no offer,” Moncharsh added.

Farmont Corp. Chairman Kagehisa Toyama, who said in a previous Times interview that he picked the Ojai Valley as the site for his dream golf course the moment he laid eyes on it, is actively involved in the effort to win over the hearts and minds of Ojai Valley residents.

The multimillionaire radio station owner is portrayed in a brochure distributed to the media last month as a friend to the valley and the leader of his organization’s community outreach efforts.

Notable is his pursuit of relationships with a few local nonprofit organizations. The Ventura County Museum of History and Art lists Toyama among those who have donated more than $1,000 to the institution. So do the Ventura County Symphony and the Ojai Music Festival.

Toyama also made a significant contribution to Casa Pacifica, a Camarillo-based foundation planning a home for abused and neglected children, said Barbara Conway, Casa Pacifica fund-raising director.

All of the contributions have been made since the first project was rejected.

Greene said the contributions were good public relations, but nothing more. “He can put money into festivals and community organizations if he wants to, but that really doesn’t have much bearing on any issues other than politics.”

Farmont Corp. spokesman Barry Landon said Toyama’s commitment to the area goes far beyond the charitable contributions, however.

Locating the golf course near Ojai will have an enormous economic impact on the town, Landon said, noting that the club will employ more than 40 people.

“And we plan to hire all of these employees locally, as long as that is possible,” Landon said.

Golf club members will also patronize local hotels, restaurants and shops, pumping more dollars into the local economy, Landon said.

Perhaps the key element in the environmental impact report being reviewed by county planners is the amount of water that the Farmont Golf Club will use.

Golf courses have in the past been designated as water guzzlers, but Landon says the Farmont club--designed by Pete Dye, one of the top course designers of the past 30 years--will be different.

Planners hope to drastically reduce water consumption by using state-of-the-art water technology and drought-resistant grasses and irrigating a smaller area than most courses of Farmont’s size, Landon said.

Incorporating reclaimed water into the irrigation system is also planned, if it becomes available, Landon said.

The Farmont Corp. has the legal rights to water from four wells on the property along with diversion rights to 3,000 acre-feet of water annually from the Ventura River, Craig said, so the course should be more or less self-sufficient in its water usage.

A small percentage of the Farmont property is being used for agriculture, including a medium-sized orange grove, dry farming of barley and grasses and grazing pastures.

If the golf course proposal is turned down the entire 2,000-acre property could be converted to agricultural uses, which may use up to four times the planned water use of the golf course, Craig said. Up to 100 acres of the golf course would be irrigated.

“That’s not a threat, it’s an economic reality,” said Farmont legal counsel Lindsay Nielson. “We have some very expensive land there, and if we can’t use it for what we want we will have to do something with it.

“The irony of this whole situation is that tomorrow we could go out there and use five times as much water, planting 200 acres as a sod farm, and we wouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. It’s only because we want to use 90 or 100 acres and call it a golf club that we have to go through this,” he said.