Foes of Westlake Village Project May Take Flower Issue to Court

Environmentalists trying to keep a developer from building houses on land in Westlake Village where a rare, and possibly endangered, wildflower grows said Friday that court records offer a glimmer of hope that the land could wind up in the hands of Las Virgenes Municipal Water District instead.

The catch: The developer would have to either agree--and there’s no sign of that--or be forced into agreement by a lawsuit over the troublesome flower.

The dispute began with a decision by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Thursday, which cleared the way for the purchase of 492 acres around Las Virgenes Reservoir by the Irvine-based Baldwin Co., which wants to build 330 luxury homes near the lake shore.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) had asked the FDIC to delay the sale of the property because Pentachaeta lyonii, a wispy yellow flower native to the Santa Monica Mountains, grows there. Conservancy officials sought to use the flower to block the sale, but the FDIC determined it was not included in federal regulations protecting endangered species. If it had been, Baldwin would have been blocked from buying the land.

But now, Peter Ireland, assistant executive officer of the Mountains Recreation Conservation Area, an arm of the conservancy, said his agency has hope that the land could be purchased by Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, if Baldwin executives will give it up.

Ireland said his agency obtained court records of a February settlement of a civil suit brought by the Baldwin Co. against the water district, which permits the water district to purchase the reservoir land should Baldwin choose not to.

“It puts the water district in a secondary position to preserve and protect the watershed and reservoir instead of another developer trying to come in with another project,” Ireland said. “I don’t know that it will happen, but it is at least a possibility that we’ll need to explore.”

Conservancy officials have not discussed the possibility of changing buyers with either the water district or Baldwin officials, Ireland said. Nor have negotiations taken place on where the money would come from to buy the land should Baldwin officials decide not to purchase it.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy, said the final decision on the land could rest in the federal court system.

“We’re not threatening anything,” Edmiston said, but he added that the conservancy’s board will discuss “this issue for possible litigation.”

Edmiston said Baldwin executives might opt to let the water district have the land if the conservancy files suit over the flower-preservation issue.

But Baldwin officials said they are comfortable with the progress of the project and have no intention of letting the land go.

“We’re absolutely committed to moving forward with this project, and we believe the majority of the community of Westlake would like to see it developed in the manner we are proceeding,” said Nick Gorely, senior vice president of the Baldwin Co. “Our intention is to build a high-quality, high-end project that the city can be proud of. We think it will be the jewel of Westlake.”

Edmiston said he will ask the conservancy board at its next meeting to urge the city of Westlake Village and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District to agree on common goals to preserve the lake and its surrounding land.

The goals include no recreational use of the lake and the preservation of the non-watershed portion of the property, which would be used as a wildlife refuge, emphasizing endangered plants and species, Ireland said. A third goal would be the absolute protection from development of the reservoir’s watershed.

Ireland said that if a statement of common goals can be agreed on, they will be presented to Baldwin officials as an indication of what the agencies want.

“If it’s in everybody’s interest to maintain the status quo, then that’s what we ought to try and do,” Ireland said. “If all agencies that are interested in preserving the watershed, protecting the water supply and seeing to it that this area is preserved for wildlife and endangered species, agreed, then we’re in a very good position for that to come about.”

Gorely said that protecting the watershed is not a point of contention with his company.

“We don’t plan on developing within the watershed area,” Gorely said. “This will be accomplished by diverting the existing flow of water away from the lake, thereby converting it into a non-watershed area.”