Public Access to Canyon Area Debated : Preservation: Conservancy officials say some property owners’ concerns are ‘flat-out racist.’ A key issue is liability for accidents.

Branding efforts to keep the public out of Escondido Canyon “flat-out racist,” the head of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy clashed this week with local property owners who, in turn, criticized the agency for ignoring their concerns about safety, parking and other matters.

At issue are approximately 114 acres leading up to spectacular Escondido Falls in western Malibu. Using county funds, the conservancy plans to purchase the land for preservation, securing it for the hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers and other nature enthusiasts who already frequent the area.

Although virtually everyone seems to favor preserving the spot, also a sacred site of the native Chumash Indians, the conservancy’s executive director this week accused some nearby residents of trying to limit public access in a selfish attempt to hog the land for themselves.

Director Joe Edmiston met with property owners on Saturday to discuss the land and later reacted angrily to comments he heard there. He recounted how one homeowner expressed fears that the area would be visited by school buses full of children “from East L.A.”

“These folks are flat-out racists,” Edmiston said in an interview early this week. “That’s just who they are.”

Following a less-confrontational meeting Monday night between property owners and conservancy officials, Edmiston took a slightly more conciliatory tone but persisted with the thrust of his accusation.

“There were no more comments about keeping people out from East L.A., but we did hear about ‘outsiders,’ and sometimes ‘outsiders’ is a code word,” Edmiston said.

Most of the 20 speakers who addressed the conservancy board Monday night said they support the agency acquiring the land and want it open to the public. But they also complained that the conservancy has yet to provide satisfactory answers on a number of key issues, including parking, traffic, road maintenance, fire danger, security measures and the question of who would be liable if park users who strayed onto private property were injured.

“We’ve really had no due process on this thing,” complained Sycamore Park property owner Bill Talbot, who said he opposes agency acquisition of the land.

Among those believed to share the worries are actors Stacy Keach and Edward Albert Jr., both members of the Winding Way-deButts Terrace Property Owners Assn.

“They’re both highly concerned like the rest of us,” said one association member who asked not to be named.

Much of the flap focuses on Winding Way, a privately built and maintained access road that extends inland from Pacific Coast Highway toward undeveloped parcels recently acquired by the conservancy.

Area homeowners say the combination of increased traffic and greater numbers of hikers, bikers and horses is a recipe for an accident on the curvy, historic road. They have demanded to be indemnified against such a mishap.

Edmiston, while noting that the liability matter is being reviewed by the state attorney general’s office, downplayed the property owners’ fears, comparing the trail to an ordinary sidewalk.

“Just because more people are on Winding Way doesn’t mean homeowners should be indemnified against all claims,” he said.

As planned, access to Escondido Canyon is fairly complicated. The public, granted only six parking spaces at the foot of Winding Way, must proceed up a trail that runs alongside the road. At one point, the trail crosses from one side of the road to the other. A mile or so inland, the paved portion of the road and the trail alongside end. The final half a mile of the road into the canyon is unpaved.

Many property owners disagree with the conservancy’s contention that the public has the right to use the final section of road, and the state attorney general’s office is reviewing that issue as well.

Meanwhile, property owners are hinting at taking legal action of their own against the conservancy.

“You are looking at a very determined group of homeowners here,” Anthony O’Rourke, a board member of the Winding Way-deButts Property Owners Assn., told conservancy officials Monday night.

O’Rourke joined several of his neighbors in denouncing the conservancy’s placement of new signs along Winding Way marking the trail to the conservancy property. He said the signs should not be in place until it is clearly established that they are legal.

Edmiston said the signs are the result of a 1981 Coastal Commission condition that allowed for the paving of Winding Way. “There’s no question in our mind that the Coastal Commission condition is valid,” he added.

Another potential source of litigation is the waterfalls. The conservancy wants to acquire the falls in exchange for letting the family that owns them now subdivide other portions of their Escondido Canyon property.

Erin Murphy O’Hara said her family wants permission to subdivide plus about $1 million. Her consultant, Don Schmitz, warned the board that it must either buy the falls or face the consequences.

“If you post signs, bring people into your park and endanger our falls, we will be forced to engage you in litigation,” he said.

The two-tiered falls, which plummet more than 900 feet, are the major drawing card. Currently, the public can approach them on foot or horseback, but the falls themselves are marked by a “No Trespassing” sign.

To date, the conservancy has paid $1.5 million for 40 acres in Escondido Canyon and is negotiating for another 114 acres. Some of the funds likely will come from $1.2 million in mitigation money that developer Sheldon Gordon agreed to pay in exchange for being allowed to build in Malibu’s Sweetwater Mesa area.

At Monday’s meeting, conservancy board chairman Jerome Daniel called for greater communication between Escondido Canyon property owners and the agency, but he left no room for compromise on one point.

“We don’t acquire property and then tell the public they can’t use it,” he said. “We’re not going to back down from that position.”