Panel Rejects Privatization of Los Liones

Ending a two-year dispute, the state Parks and Recreation Commission has squelched plans to allow part of Los Liones Canyon in Pacific Palisades to be sold to a private developer.

The panel, which met this week in Santa Monica, voted 7 to 2 against a proposal by Temple Kihillath Israel and the Pacific Palisades-Malibu YMCA to buy state-owned property in the lower part of the canyon to build facilities.

Nestled next to Sunset Boulevard, the 32-acre property has long been touted by parks enthusiasts as a critical link between the city and Topanga State Park. They opposed plans by the Temple and YMCA to purchase up to 12 acres.

Monday’s decision was a blow to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which owns the property. Its executive director, Joseph T. Edmiston, had promoted a complicated land swap that would have allowed the Temple and YMCA to build there.

“It sends a clear message that parkland should be preserved as parkland and that is a positive thing,” said Lamont Johnson, whose group wants to establish a botanical garden on the property.

Although ruling out privatization, the decision leaves the property’s future unsettled.

During a 4 1/2-hour hearing attended by more than 200 people, the commission heard at least 10 proposed uses for the parkland, ranging from community playing fields to a Native American interpretive center.

“We hope to get help from many of the people who’ve made their feelings known,” said Dan Preece, an area state parks superintendent. Preece said his cash-strapped agency has little money to develop the parkland on its own.

The property was transferred from the state parks department to the conservancy last year as part of a land swap arranged in 1992. That year the conservancy agreed to buy several privately owned acres near Malibu Creek State Park that were about to be developed.

The conservancy agreed to swap the Malibu parcels and its 22-acre Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades to the state parks department in return for the Los Liones property.

In informal talks with the conservancy, the Temple and YMCA had expressed willingness to provide parking, build a trail head for the important link into Topanga State Park and help pay for playing fields for community use on part of the property.

But opponents, including some nearby residents, lobbied state parks Director Donald Murphy to quash the idea. Murphy announced his opposition to the plan in September.