Judge Allows State to Seize Soka’s Land

A Ventura County judge on Tuesday cleared the way for a state parks agency to begin condemnation proceedings against Soka University, beating an impending deadline that would have hiked the price of the 244-acre campus by about $10 million.

The decision, a victory for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, allows the agency to start the seizure process before Jan. 1, when a new state law that would have upped the price takes effect.

But Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Lane’s order does not assure that the school will lose its scenic campus in the hills south of Calabasas any time soon. Soka has at least two more opportunities to challenge the seizure, which may take months--or even years--to be resolved.

On Dec. 18 Lane blocked the filing of condemnation proceedings against Soka while she determined whether the conservancy had followed proper procedure. On Tuesday, she lifted that stay, saying that doing so would cause “no immediate harm to Soka or the public interest.”

Joe Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy, said a lawsuit forcing Soka to sell its land would be filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court before Thursday. It would be the first condemnation action in the 13-year history of the conservancy, which acquires land in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and donates it to state and federal parks agencies.

The conservancy wants to turn Soka’s property at Mulholland Highway and Las Virgenes Road into a headquarters of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. But Soka has plans to expand its small language school into a liberal arts college and high school for 3,400 students.

Although the campus is entirely within Los Angeles County, the hearing was held in Ventura County because the conservancy’s negotiating arm--the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority--has a joint-powers agreement with two Ventura County parks agencies.

Earlier this month, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted to allow the authority to seize Soka’s land. Soka lawyers sued, contending that the conservancy circumvented proper procedure because it did not gain condemnation permission from the state Board of Public Works and challenging the jurisdiction of Ventura County officials over land-use decisions in Los Angeles County.

Soka attorneys sought to overturn the vote by Ventura County supervisors, which would have forced the conservancy to begin its condemnation proceedings anew. Had that happened, the cost of seizing Soka’s property would have increased by as much as $10 million because a new state law will require nonprofit agencies whose lands are condemned to be reimbursed for any improvements and relocation expenses.

“We would be out as much as $10 million,” the conservancy’s lawyer, Robert McMurray, told Lane. “That is a harm we can never redress.”

Lane agreed, telling Soka lawyer Glen Reiser that the school could still raise its concerns of procedural violations at a trial in February and during eminent domain proceedings. “I’m not persuaded that you lack remedies,” Lane told Reiser.