Judge Won’t Halt Land Sale Despite Rare Plant : Westlake Village: The ruling is a victory for the FDIC and a developer, but it’s a setback for a conservancy.

Ruling in a case involving the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge in Washington Thursday refused to stop a federal agency from selling to a private developer a Westlake Village tract that is home to a rare flower.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Harris was a victory for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Baldwin Co.--which wants to buy the land from the FDIC--and a setback for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which had sought a preliminary injunction against the sale.

However, a lawsuit on the matter will continue, and it was uncertain if the sale of the 491 acres will immediately go ahead.

“We think it’s great,” said Nick Gorely, senior vice president for Baldwin, the Irvine-based developer that wants to build 330 homes on the property. Gorely said he was unsure if the deal will now be closed, adding that this might depend on whether the conservancy appeals the ruling.

Conservancy officials, who also hope to acquire the property from the FDIC, were “very disappointed” by the ruling, said Joseph T. Edmiston, the agency’s executive director.

Edmiston said the conservancy may yet prevail in the lawsuit, “but the judge clearly did not want to stop the sale. . . . We felt that we had a good case, and we still hope that the FDIC of its own accord will do the right thing.”

FDIC officials could not be reached for comment on the ruling.

The conservancy filed suit last month to block the sale after failing to persuade the FDIC to cancel its deal with Baldwin and sell the land to the conservancy instead. The hilly site near the shore of Westlake Reservoir is home to Pentachaeta lyonii , a wispy yellow member of the sunflower family native to the Santa Monica Mountains.

The conservancy contends that federal regulations require the FDIC to offer land that is home to endangered species to groups devoted to protecting wildlife and open space.

The FDIC has maintained, among other things, that Pentachaeta lyonii is classified as “threatened,” not “protected,” and thus is not covered by the rules.

Efforts are under way to change the flower’s status to “protected.”

In denying the motion for a preliminary injunction, Harris did not comment on the validity of these arguments. His three-paragraph ruling merely said the conservancy had not satisfied the standards for “injunctive relief at this stage of the case.”

The FDIC took over the property from the failed Vernon Savings & Loan of Texas.