L.A. Accepts Occidental Corp.’s Gift of 2 Acres of Coastal Land : Environment: The City Council action ends a 22-year struggle to prevent oil drilling on the Pacific Palisades site.

Ending a political struggle that lasted more than two decades, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday accepted Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s gift of two acres of coastal property where the company had hoped to drill for oil.

By assuming ownership of the Pacific Palisades property, the city assured “once and for all” that the property will either be kept as open space, converted to a park or transformed into a beach parking lot, according to city officials.

“This is a happy resolution to a problem that has plagued us for 20 years,” said City Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the area. “I’m having a diet Coke. That was the closest thing I could find to champagne.”

Roger Jon Diamond, who 22 years ago helped form an anti-drilling organization called No Oil Inc., said the group’s work appears to be done.

“We are very excited,” Diamond said. “After 22 years, our fight is finally over. The city taking over this property is the final nail in the coffin.”

Diamond recalled that the anti-drilling forces experienced “a lot of peaks and valleys,” as the proposal was bounced from the courts to the Los Angeles City Council and finally, in 1988, to voters who approved a ballot measure banning drilling.

But even Proposition O was not definitive. The late Occidental Chairman Armand Hammer was determined, some said “obsessed,” with winning approval for the drilling plan.

Occidental officials threatened, after the loss of the 1988 election, to sue to preserve the City Council’s previous approval of drilling. The company believed 60 million barrels of oil were beneath the property.

But with the death of Hammer, Occidental’s new leadership did not have the will to continue the struggle. At a 1991 stockholders meeting, new Occidental Chairman Ray Irani said the company would not pursue the drilling plan.

Since then, city and oil company officials have been working out details of an agreement to transfer ownership of the property on Pacific Coast Highway near Temescal Canyon.

Occidental agreed to pay the cost of removing hazardous materials that might be found on the site, while the city agreed to maintain a drainage system to stabilize bluffs that are prone to sliding.

City Councilman Joel Wachs cast the lone vote Tuesday against taking the property. He said he was concerned that the city will be assuming liability for land that is unusable because of geologic instability.

“If we change the use and say (the property) is going to be used for parking or some other use, then (the hill) is going to slip right down on people and they are going to sue us,” Wachs said.

But Braude and the rest of the council rejected that argument.

The Pacific Palisades councilman said planning for use of the two acres will proceed slowly and that a parking lot or recreation area will only be built if it is clear the land is safe. “It will be a very long time before anything happens,” Braude said.