WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Conservancy Gets OK to Bid on Land
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has been authorized to offer up to $10 million to buy land around Westlake Reservoir to prevent a developer from building on the site.
Monday’s decision by the conservancy’s governing board is a procedural step toward the possible settlement of a lawsuit filed by the conservancy last week to stop the Irvine-based Baldwin Co. from buying the land and building 330 luxury homes.
The land is owned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which acquired it from a failed savings and loan.
Conservancy officials hope to buy the land to protect a rare, possibly endangered, wildflower. Baldwin has agreed to pay $10 million for the land, staff counsel Liz Cheadle said.
The conservancy’s federal lawsuit argues that the FDIC must offer the 493-acre site first to a group devoted to preserving wildlife because the property contains an endangered species.
FDIC officials, however, say they are not bound by the federal environmental regulations governing other agencies because they are acting as a receiver of property.
If the conservancy prevails, it would change the way the FDIC liquidates assets of failed financial institutions by requiring more environmental reviews.
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