Katz Backs Buying Land to Save Plant

State Assemblyman Richard Katz, angered by a developer’s threat to remove an endangered plant from Big Tujunga Wash so a golf course can be built, on Thursday advocated buying the rugged and environmentally sensitive wetland and making it a public parkland.

Katz’s remarks came as Cosmo World Corp. threatened to remove the slender-horned spineflower, a frail and unremarkable-looking endangered plant from a 355-acre parcel that it wants to develop as a luxury golf club. State officials plan to go to court next week to block Cosmo.

Katz (D-Sylmar) joined the debate over the wash during a breakfast gathering he sponsored featuring Mayor Richard Riordan as guest speaker.

In his remarks to a Studio City audience of 450, Katz blasted Cosmo’s efforts to “bulldoze” the spineflower off the property. “They’re about to find out they’re not above the law,” Katz told the crowd.

Katz said later in an interview that his office was urging state wildlife officials to move quickly and decisively against Cosmo.

The threat against the spineflower “has galvanized a lot of folks out here,” Katz said. “There are people who are literally ready to chain themselves to the bulldozers if it comes to that.”

The wash is recognized as one of the city’s handful of ecologically important areas.

Since 1987, Cosmo has been trying to build a private golf club in the wash that would seek to lure the Los Angeles Open tournament from its longstanding venue at the Riveria Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

But Cosmo has been stymied by state and federal wildlife officials who contend the project would jeopardize the spineflower.

Last week, in an apparent attempt to break the logjam, attorneys for Cosmo, citing a little-known state law, said they intended to remove or destroy the spineflower population in the wash if state or federal wildlife officials did not come and “salvage” it in 10 days.

In talks with officials from the state attorney general’s office on Wednesday night, Cosmo attorney Hugh Hewitt agreed not to take action against the plant until next Wednesday.

“We’ll be in court next week to seek judicial relief to protect the endangered plant,” said Ann Malcolm, deputy general counsel for the state Department of Fish and Game.

News of Katz’s interest in the public purchase of the Cosmo property was greeted with cheers by foes of the golf project. “I love it,” said Sylvia Gross, a homeowner-activist in the Sunland-Tujunga area.

“This is a big plus for us,” agreed Bill Eick, attorney for the Shadow Hills Property Owners Assn. “We have believed all along that the wash should be in the public domain as a nature preserve.”

Hewitt and officials with Cosmo did not returned phone calls asking for comment.

Katz speculated that perhaps Cosmo, with the dramatic threat it made last week, is actually trying to create a “public market” for its property. “But if that’s their intention, I still don’t understand it,” Katz said.

“By threatening the spineflower, I think they have diminished their chances of getting the permits they need from the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Katz said. “They may have created a public market all right, but it’s for a devalued property.”

To build its golf course, Cosmo needs a permit from the Army Corps, which has jurisdiction over the area as a waterway, and a conditional-use permit from the city of Los Angeles. The value of the Cosmo property would depend in a large part on whether Cosmo obtains these permits. Without them, Cosmo’s land can only be used for agricultural purposes.