Bid to Preserve Canyon Accepted : Thousand Oaks: City and conservancy will buy the land from the federal agency that took it over from a savings and loan.

A federal agency has accepted a $1.7-million offer from Thousand Oaks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to purchase a 231-acre canyon so it can be preserved as open space, officials said Friday.

Located at the end of Rancho Road south of the Ventura Freeway, the oak-studded Rolling Oaks Canyon had been slated for development since 1989. At that time, the city approved a 45-unit housing tract proposed by a division of failed Lincoln Savings and Loan.

The announcement marks the end of months of negotiations between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the city of Thousand Oaks and the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency in charge of selling assets from failed savings and loans. The deal must be approved by the City Council.

Initially, the conservancy had asked that the land be donated, a request RTC officials had soundly rejected.

Officials credited Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) with helping to work out the deal. The congressman was instrumental in getting $850,000 in funds slated for other parkland acquisitions released to the conservancy for the purchase of the Rolling Oaks property, according to city, county and parks officials.

Beilenson said he was asked by officials from the conservancy, Thousand Oaks and Ventura County to intercede because the property was in danger of being lost to development.

“This happens to be one of the few bright spots of the savings and loan scandal,” said Beilenson, whose legislation created the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in 1978.

Officials said the sale is believed to be one of the first transfers of properties held by the RTC to a state parks agency. Beilenson said he has asked the RTC to identify other parcels in the Los Angeles area that could also be acquired.

Under the terms of the offer, the conservancy and the city each will contribute $850,000 toward the purchase of the land, officials said.

The property will actually be held by the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority, an agency that represents the conservancy and parks districts based in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Larry Schannault, a deputy director with the RTC in Phoenix, said the purchase agreement should be finalized Tuesday, and if all goes well, the sale should be complete within 10 days.

“It was a very good offer, and RTC’s very happy with it,” he said.

Joseph Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said he hiked through the canyon to inspect the area Friday. He said two streams run through the property, as well as a trail that eventually hooks up with the Backbone Trail, which runs the length of the Santa Monica Mountains.

At about $7,300 an acre, Edmiston said, “it’s a damn good deal.”

The canyon is home to an endangered wildflower, called Lyon’s pentachaeta. It also has other wildlife, including bobcats, coyotes and possibly mountain lions, said Michael Berger, a Conejo Recreation and Park District director.

“It may seem kind of small to some people, but it’s a critical piece in the Conejo. It’s a visible part of the open space, and it had pressure on it for development,” he said.

Only weeks ago, the city and the conservancy had threatened to sue the RTC in an attempt to force the federal agency to donate the land to the conservancy for free.

“It would have been highly unlikely we would have won,” said Thousand Oaks Mayor Robert E. Lewis, an attorney. “I think the lawsuit would have been an uphill and expensive fight.”

Thousand Oaks’ contribution is actually a loan to the conservancy, Lewis said.

The city will be repaid in one of two ways, he said.

The conservancy could generate the cash by selling 12 acres at the edge of the property to developers interested in building five homes, he said. Or the conservancy may get the $850,000 from two proposed bond measures on the state and Los Angeles County ballots in November that would generate millions of dollars for buying parkland.

The purchase must still be approved by the Thousand Oaks City Council at its next meeting April 7. Lewis said he will recommend that the offer be approved as submitted and said he does not expect any objections.

Councilman Alex Fiore, while supporting the deal in concept, said he would not support the loan unless he receives assurances that the city will be fully repaid.

In the next few years, Fiore said he expects the council to propose a bond measure to generate money for preserving land as open space. If that happens, he said the city ought to evaluate all pieces of vacant land to set up a list of priority sites for purchase.

He suggested that the Rolling Oaks Canyon would not be at the top of the list. “It’s gotten more attention than other parcels that people in the city would much prefer owning.”