Couple’s Sale of Land to State Ends Dispute Over Road

Ending a 15-year battle with state parks officials, a couple who wanted to pave a road to their house through Malibu Creek State Park on Thursday agreed to sell their property for about $1.65 million.

The purchase by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy closes a bitter series of confrontations between Tom and Pat Randa of Sonoma and state officials who long coveted the couple’s five acres at the northwest corner of the park near Malibu Lake.

Escrow on the deal, reached after three weeks of negotiations, is expected to close by the end of the month. Conservancy officials will then donate the land to Malibu Creek State Park.

Dan Preece, regional deputy director of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, said his agency has no immediate plans for the Randas’ property and house, but added that the land may be returned to its natural state.

“We wouldn’t want to create the same kind of traffic problems residents would create,” he said. “Keeping the area in a pristine natural state is our highest goal.”

The Randas bought their parcel near Malibu Lake in 1978 for $5,000. Over the next several years, they built a house and planned to pave a mile-long road to connect their property with Lookout Drive. The Randas never lived in the house, which they built themselves over several years.

State parks officials wanted the road, popular with hikers and equestrians, to remain unpaved. Last month, Malibu Lake residents parked their cars in front of heavy equipment moving to pave the road.

A few days later, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the Randas not to pave the road, but then lifted the stay two weeks later. The Randas then agreed not to pave during negotiations with conservancy officials.

“I have been doing this too long to get excited right now,” Tom Randa said from his residence in Sonoma. “I want to see how things work out.”