Park Service Will Buy Jordan Ranch From Bob Hope : Land: The long-sought parcel is called the ‘crown jewel’ of National Recreation Area. The deal leaves fate of giant Ahmanson Ranch project unresolved.

After more than five years of intense and ever-shifting negotiations, officials said Thursday that the National Park Service is purchasing Bob Hope’s 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch in the Simi Hills east of Thousand Oaks.

The $16.7-million purchase represents a milestone for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service that is stitching together a network of mountain parks and trails in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

“This is the single largest acquisition within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, who helped engineer the deal. “And it is the crown jewel.”

Acquisition of Jordan Ranch pushes National Park Service holdings within the National Recreation Area to about 20,400 acres--well on its way to the eventual goal of 35,000 acres in federal ownership.

Although the purchase of Jordan Ranch has long been a top priority among park agencies, it still leaves unresolved the fate of the giant Ahmanson Ranch housing project and two other Hope properties tied to that development.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors last December approved the 3,050-dwelling golf course community near the Los Angeles County line, on condition that the development partners turn over to state and federal park agencies 10,000-acres--most of it owned by Hope--of mountain land. This includes Jordan Ranch and two other Hope properties--Runkle Ranch northeast of Simi Valley and Corral Canyon in Malibu.

But that deal stalled when the Ahmanson Land Co., Hope and his development partner, Potomac Investment Associates, began squabbling over how to split profits from the deal, or cover each other’s losses should pending lawsuits kill the development.

The agreement announced Thursday separates Jordan from the larger parks-for-development deal.

But, under the conditions laid out by the supervisors, the Ahmanson Ranch project still cannot go forward until Hope’s other two properties become public parkland. Ahmanson has 2 1/2 years to transfer the other properties to park agencies.

Edmiston said Hope will receive $16.7 million for the rugged, oak-dotted Jordan Ranch within the next few days. He said the Park Service’s check and the deed to the land are in escrow, which could close today or Monday at the latest.

But as far as he is concerned, Edmiston said the property can be considered public parkland.

“I’ve got Bob Hope’s No Trespassing sign in the back of my truck,” said Edmiston, who toured the property with his wife late Thursday evening. “I personally cut them down with my bolt cutters.”

Edmiston credited Gov. Pete Wilson, Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and David Gackenbach, regional superintendent of the National Park Service, for putting the deal together.

Gackenbach could not be reached for comment Thursday.

VanderKolk, the county official most deeply involved in the acquisition of Jordan Ranch, said she was so thrilled at hearing the news Thursday that she and a staff member did the cha-cha in her office.

“It’s the third best thing that has ever happened to me, next to my husband and my baby,” VanderKolk said. “I’m so happy. I can’t begin to tell you.”

Edmiston said that a formal announcement of the Jordan Ranch purchase would either be made today or Saturday to coincide with the visit of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Babbitt is scheduled to meet with state and federal park officials, possibly at Jordan Ranch, to discuss a wide range of issues regarding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

VanderKolk said it’s up to Ahmanson now to come up with the money to purchase Hope’s 4,369-acre Runkle Ranch and the 339-acre Corral Canyon to meet the supervisors’ conditions before construction can begin. “I think they’re prepared to do that if they have to,” she said.

Yet, VanderKolk said that Ahmanson’s main concern right now is dealing with nine lawsuits filed against its development. Los Angeles, Calabasas and Malibu have demanded high payouts to settle their lawsuits. In addition, Los Angeles County has demanded $20 million for road improvements before it will drop its suit.

Ahmanson officials “just don’t want to put everything on the line right now because of the money they may have to pay out because of the lawsuits,” VanderKolk said. “But I think the lawsuits will be cleared up. Regardless of what happens, we’ve got Jordan Ranch.”

Supervisor Vicky Howard was also delighted by the Jordan Ranch deal. “This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time,” she said. “It’s a wonderful piece of property. Everyone will benefit from this.”

David Brown, conservation chairman of the Sierra Club’s Santa Monica Mountain’s Task Force, also praised the acquisition, noting that Jordan Ranch includes the “gorgeous” oak-dotted mesa known as China Flat, as well as plenty of “flat, wooded bottom land with enough shade to be enjoyable at least in more pleasant days of summer.”

Moreover, Brown said, the property works well with the National Recreation Area’s adjacent 2,150-acre Cheeseboro Canyon Park to help preserve valuable wildlife habitat.

“You’re now more than doubling the size of Cheeseboro Canyon Park, which means from the wildlife standpoint, much better habitat,” Brown said. “There’s more solid, core area that isn’t going to be disturbed.”

Rosie McCabe, a board member of Save Open Space, an environmental group opposed to the Ahmanson development, said she hoped that park agencies would eventually be able to purchase the Ahmanson Ranch as well as Hope’s other properties without any development occurring.

Recreation area officials had long sought to acquire Jordan Ranch but for years seemed to have little prospect of buying it from Hope, who wanted to build a golf course and luxury housing on the sprawling ranch.

About two years ago, Park Service officials conceded development of the property. They were considering giving Hope a sliver of federal land for road access to his project in return for a portion of his Jordan Ranch acreage.

Even after Hope and his development partner, Potomac, abandoned that plan in the face of public opposition--and offered to sell Jordan as part of the huge joint venture with Ahmanson Land Co.--acquisition of Jordan was far from assured.

Park officials worked frantically to strike a deal with Hope on Jordan Ranch this week because of concerns that the National Park Service money earmarked for the property would be lost to another parkland acquisition, Edmiston said.

Gackenbach said earlier that if the Park Service purchased the Jordan Ranch property, money left over could be used to acquire a portion of the 640-acre Broome Ranch on the outskirts of Thousand Oaks.