Parkland Plan May Die on Auction Block : Real estate: Owners of Broome Ranch will put the 640 acres up for bids. The state can not compete financially, officials say.

Plans to use federal money left over from the recent purchase of Jordan Ranch to acquire the 640-acre Broome Ranch near Thousand Oaks are all but dead because the owner insists on selling the land at auction, park officials said Tuesday.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said representatives of the estate that owns Broome Ranch believe that they can get more money for the land by auctioning it off next month, instead of selling it directly to park agencies.

Park officials would not be able to compete against wealthy developers, he said.

Besides, Edmiston said, a bid by park officials would be limited to the state’s own land appraisal. The state has not yet determined the fair market value of the property.

“An auction would stack the odds against us,” Edmiston said. “I’m frankly very pessimistic. I’m very concerned that the property may be lost.”

But David Hardacre, an attorney representing the landowner, said it is possible an auction could be avoided and a deal worked out with park officials “if they aim their sights a little higher.”

He said the estate has had its own appraisals done on Broome Ranch and that it is worth more than park officials are presently willing to pay for it.

“The numbers we’re talking about are very reasonable,” Hardacre said. “We don’t think they are very high.”

Although Hardacre would not reveal the land’s purported value, some analysts have predicted that the property would sell for less than half of the $12-million list price because of the current market slump. It is scheduled to go on the auction block July 15.

Once used for cattle grazing, the property, situated southwest of Thousand Oaks, is the gateway to an unbroken stretch of state and federal parkland that sweeps through Point Mugu State Park down to the ocean. Now preserved as agricultural land under a federal law, Broome Ranch will be eligible for development within five years.

Park officials have long sought to acquire the property, but until recently seemed to have little prospect of buying it because of other priorities.

Last week, the National Park Service purchased Bob Hope’s 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch for $16.7 million, leaving about $3 million for other land acquisitions. Park officials immediately announced that they wanted to purchase Broome Ranch with the remaining money.

Thousand Oaks officials were especially pleased with the news. The city for years has been interested in acquiring the tract as part of a protected greenbelt encircling the city. Mayor Judy Lazar recently assembled a task force including the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the National Park Service and the Conejo Recreation and Park District to try to purchase the property collectively.

Edmiston said officials were hoping that some of the Park Service money left over from the Jordan Ranch purchase would be used as a down payment on the property, with the balance to be paid in installments by other members of the task force.

“But we have to have a willing seller,” Edmiston said, noting that the Broome Ranch estate is hoping to get a single cash payment from the auction. “The ball is in their court.”

Hardacre said the estate owes a substantial sum of money to creditors and attorneys and would prefer a single payment. However, he said there is still an opportunity to negotiate a deal.

“We’d be interested in a down payment if there is enough money on the end of it to make it attractive,” he said.

Meanwhile, David Gackenbach, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said last week that if another parcel becomes available before Broome Ranch that the National Park Service would not hold onto its money.

He said the Park Service is under pressure to quickly use what money it has left or it will lose any chance of additional funding for the new fiscal year.

As it stands now, the Clinton Administration has included no new money in its budget for expanded Santa Monica Mountains parkland.