Babbitt’s Talk With Soka Surprises Agency

When Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt met with Soka University representatives last month to learn more about the bitter dispute over the group’s mountain property, it apparently came as a surprise to advocates for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The Times reported last week that Soka officials and lobbyists had a brief session here with Babbitt on April 26 to discuss the school’s proposal to donate some of its picturesque land to the park in exchange for support to proceed with its controversial proposal to expand its campus in a meadow south of Calabasas.

“He’s trying, on many of these park-adjacent issues, to get a feel for what all the concerns are,” Babbitt’s spokesman, Jay Ziegler, said Monday. “He’s trying to get a better sense of the lay of the land.”

Ziegler said Babbitt feels that he has “an obligation, given the limited nature of funding for land acquisition, to really look at these situations and see what he can do apart from straight” purchases, possibly through swaps and trades. But, he added, Babbitt also said, “the best way to do this might be through a straight acquisition.”

Ziegler said Babbitt had discussed the long-running Soka battle with Southern California congressmen as well as Park Service officials. He did not cite any lawmakers.

Spokeswoman for Reps. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), the two leading congressional proponents for the Santa Monicas, said Monday that neither one had been contacted by Babbitt about Soka nor had been aware of Babbitt’s session with the group’s representatives.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency that buys and manages land for the national recreation area, has begun condemnation proceedings to obtain almost half of Soka’s property for a visitors center and park headquarters. Soka officials, who want to expand the campus into a liberal arts college, refused the conservancy’s $19.7-million offer for 244 acres last year and are fighting the takeover bid in court.

Soka, meanwhile, has offered to donate a portion of its centrally located property to the park, build a park headquarters and set aside a $1-million endowment for park maintenance in exchange for a commitment by the National Park Service to drop its opposition to the university’s expansion plans. Park authorities have rejected the proposal, which they say is inadequate for park headquarters and fails to address the ill effects of establishing a major university in a scenic mountain meadow.

“They could never get a meeting with Bruce Babbitt,” responded Joseph T. Edmiston, the Conservancy’s executive director, when first informed that Soka officials had arranged such a session through their Washington lobbying firm, O’Connor & Hannan.

Told that Babbitt’s spokesman confirmed the meeting, Edmiston declined further comment.

But, noting that Soka has hired a number of high-powered lobbyists in Los Angeles and Washington, he added that he would like to “find out how many hundreds of thousands of dollars” the university has paid its representatives. Soka, which sponsors English and foreign language classes and a research center, is partially funded by the Japanese branch of Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist lay organization.

Jeff Ourvan, Soka’s director of community relations, said the session with Babbitt was “to let him know about the joint-use proposal” to donate land to the park and proceed with the campus expansion. Ourvan said Babbitt “did not offer a response at the time and the university has not heard from him since.”

Babbitt’s meeting is the latest chapter in an increasingly intense and high-stakes conflict between a well-financed organization determined to make its permanent home in the Santa Monicas and park proponents who have their sights set firmly on the coveted parcel as a centerpiece for the recreation area.

“This is a fairly messy local dispute,” said a Senate aide who has met with both sides. “The temperatures and the emotions run sky high on both sides of this issue.”