Agency in Default on Loan for Agoura Site : Parks: The 320 acres could be auctioned off. But momentum is building for supervisors to release the needed funds in time.

A state parks agency has defaulted on an $18.5-million loan to purchase the former site of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Agoura because county supervisors have failed to release park funds approved by voters nearly a year ago.

The 320-acre property, with its magnificent oaks and views of nearby peaks, could be auctioned off on the open market unless the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy makes a $9-million payment by the end of the year.

But momentum appeared to be building Thursday among Los Angeles County Supervisors Ed Edelman, Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke to release at least $29 million of the park fund money next week, more than enough for the conservancy to pay off the loan.

“There’s an urgency here” because of the default situation, said Carrie Sutkin, Molina’s planning deputy.

The payment was due early this summer, but Union Federal Bank of Brea extended the deadline twice after the Board of Supervisors failed to agree on final conditions for the conservancy’s use of $40 million in Proposition A money, funding that was approved overwhelmingly by voters in November.

The supervisors have been haggling over restrictions proposed by Supervisor Deane Dana that critics say could allow more development in the Santa Monica Mountains.

In the meantime, Union Federal Bank officials stated in a Sept. 7 letter to the conservancy that it “cannot and will not grant any further extension of this loan under any conditions” and instructed the agency to make the payment by Wednesday or go into default.

The conservancy chose to default rather than dip into funds it has set aside for other pending projects to avoid postponing or canceling them. Among those is land near Calabasas owned by Soka University that the conservancy is fighting in court to take by condemnation.

Under foreclosure procedures, the agency has until the end of 1993 to make good on the loan for the Agoura property or it will lose both the land and the more than $8 million it has already sunk into it, said Steven Randall, the bank’s asset manager.

“It would all go down the toilet,” said Belinda Faustinos, the conservancy’s deputy director.

The situation has left some community groups angry with supervisors. They supported the conservancy when it wrested the land from builders last year by buying delinquent loans on the property and then foreclosing on a development firm that was millions of dollars in arrears. The land is still covered by an approved tract map, meaning a new owner could build 150 luxury homes on the property, also part of the former historic Paramount movie ranch.

“The people wanted parks, and to have someone on the board subvert Proposition A is very, very distressing,” said Louise Frankel, president of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn.

Proposition A, a property assessment measure, was approved by 64% of the voters. Under the terms of the measure, the conservancy’s acquisitions must be approved by the Board of Supervisors and are subject to a host of conditions. For example, the conservancy cannot use the money to purchase property from unwilling sellers through eminent domain, including the Soka University property. The conservancy also is precluded from buying property that would block entry to or otherwise interfere with a proposed county landfill.

Dana, taking advantage of the board’s power to set additional conditions, proposed in August--before the Renaissance Faire loan’s Sept. 15 due date--that the conservancy be required to allow roads to be built across any parkland bought with the park funds. He has also proposed that the conservancy be required to pay the full price of any parkland at the time of purchase, potentially restricting the number of parks that could be developed.

Responding to Dana’s motion, the board postponed an Aug. 24 hearing on the release of the park funds until Tuesday, after the loan came due. Dana has once again asked the board to delay the vote until he returns from a civics convention in Montreal on Sept. 28. It appeared unlikely Thursday that other supervisors would agree to that extension.

“Normally, we would agree to such a request,” said Sutkin, Molina’s deputy. “But open spaces are a priority.”

Sutkin said Edelman and Burke have cobbled together a compromise proposal in which $29 million of the park funds would be released and each future project would be weighed on a case-by-case basis with regard to roads.

A spokesman for Dana said the supervisor was unaware until early this week that withholding the Proposition A money would put the conservancy in arrears. However, unless supervisors can agree this week on a compromise that suits Dana, the request still stands, he said.

“We’re not trying to stop Paramount Ranch,” said Don Knabe, Dana’s chief deputy. “The purpose of our motion is to put things on a level playing field, not stop anything.”

Dana wants to prevent the conservancy from blocking roads because he is concerned about traffic congestion, Knabe said. In recent land transactions in Agoura and Calabasas, the conservancy has signaled its intent to block the widening or construction of new roads.

With regard to the full-payment policy, the conservancy should have to pay the full price of the land up front or at least pay its debts within a short period of time out of fairness to landowners, he said.