Proper Permit Is in Sight for Nudist Camp : Topanga Canyon: The founder is expected to seek an end to a 21-year zoning fight when he goes before the Regional Planning Commission.

One of the longest and costliest zoning battles in Los Angeles County history enters a new phase this week when Topanga Canyon’s Elysium Fields will seek to keep its “clothing optional” camp open, marking what finally may be the end of a 21-year fight.

Elysium founder Ed Lange is expected to ask the county’s Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday for a conditional-use permit that would allow his private seven-acre compound to continue as a bastion for folks in the buff.

It would be the first for Elysium, which since 1976 has operated without proper permits because county officials barred such permission by changing zoning rules. A court ruling last year allowed Elysium to apply.

The county’s actions were fueled in part by complaints from residents who say Elysium poses a fire risk and that traffic from the compound clogs Topanga’s narrow mountain streets.

“It is a residential area with people trying to raise children and this is a commercial venture,” said Harvey Anderson, who has battled Elysium since it opened its doors to nudists and sunbathers in 1968. “Sometimes there are 700 or 800 people up there on the weekend and it is located in a heavy brush area on a dead-end road. . . . I hope that they find a better place for that operation.”

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In the past, Anderson and other opponents have found sympathetic ears in county government, which changed its zoning rules in 1971, making it illegal to run a nudist camp on Elysium’s property after 1976. When Elysium opened in 1968, the land was zoned to allow recreational uses, including nudist camps. But in 1971, the county restricted nudist camps to a different zoning designation, with the intent of zoning Elysium out of existence.

Elysium sued and after 15 years of legal wrangling, a state appeals court ruled last year that the county acted improperly when it made the change.

Elysium was allowed to stay open during the long appeals process, over time becoming an institution in the quirky Topanga community. Community groups--from the women’s club to the Chamber of Commerce--rallied to defend Elysium, which racked up nearly $1 million in legal bills.

Lange said that type of community support will make it more difficult for county officials to deny Elysium’s request. “We are in the best position we’ve ever been in,” he said. “We’ve been good neighbors for 25 years.”

The eucalyptus-shrouded camp features a swimming pool, tennis courts, sauna, picnic area and other recreational facilities. Its approximately 1,400 members, who pay an annual fee, also may attend lectures on the naturalness and wholesomeness of nudity and human sexuality.

Last year’s appeals court decision cleared the way for Elysium to apply for a conditional-use permit that would allow it to keep the camp open. That’s what will be considered at Wednesday’s hearing.

“Now, finally, we are back to talking about practical land-use issues and not the question of nudity and morality, which some of the neighbors and the county had tried to use against Elysium,” attorney Stephen Rohde said.

But it is unlikely that the Planning Commission will reach a decision before December, Supervising Regional Planner Richard Frazier said. First, the five-member commission plans a field trip to Elysium in October, and then will reconsider Lange’s request in December.

Frazier said the county planning staff has not yet made a recommendation on Elysium’s request. He said, however, that planners previously have supported Lange’s plans with modifications such as widening narrow Robinson Road, which provides the only access to the compound.