CALABASAS : Agency Votes to Condemn Portion of Soka Campus
A mountain parks authority has cleared the way to condemn part of Soka University’s campus near Calabasas for parkland, but whether the authority can carry out the action depends on a court hearing in Ventura.
After a heated three-hour hearing at the Las Virgenes Unified School District headquarters, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority voted unanimously this week to force Soka to sell 244 acres of its land near Calabasas.
The vote sets up a last-minute race to formally institute condemnation proceedings before a new state law takes effect Jan. 1. It could force park authorities to pay millions of dollars more for the land.
Soka, a Tokyo-based school that wants to build a 3,400-student high school and college on the meadow property, filed suit challenging the authority’s right to condemn the land. The suit will be the subject of a hearing Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
