Let Topanga Be Topanga : Supervisors will want to nail down terrific parkland deal

After more than a decade of turmoil in Topanga Canyon, the Board of Supervisors can bring the oldest land dispute in Los Angeles County history to an end today.

Without delay the board can, and should, approve an agreement that will allow the purchase of 662 canyon acres by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. This is the best solution to a bitter struggle that has pitted residents against various developers for no less than 16 years.

The latest attempt at developing the canyon came from Canyon Oaks Estates. The plan was to build luxury homes and a golf course. Its proponents touted the benefits of permanent jobs and hefty property tax revenues for county coffers.

But in real estate, it’s all location, location, location--and Topanga was simply the wrong place for something like this. In fact, canyon residents saw the project as a flatland idea hoisted onto mountain terrain and feared the end of their beautiful, semi-isolated, rustic valley. They rallied the troops, they petitioned the board, they simply would not go quietly.

Fortunately, an eleventh-hour proposal surfaced: The developers, part of a Disney family trust, could profit, finally, by selling the land to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which would buy it with Proposition A parkland acquisition funds; and Topanga residents could keep their canyon.

The developers would get $14.1 million in Proposition A funds as part of the sale. The Board of Supervisors, in which member Ed Edelman is championing the sale to the conservancy, must act by April 5.

A big advantage of the deal is that county firefighters would not have a greater number of expensive structures to protect in the canyon’s next major fire. This is no small consideration. There have been 15 major blazes in Topanga since the 1920s, some followed by floods. That should be foremost in the minds of those who favor further development there.

The supervisors are on the verge of a nailing down a good deal. This is a beneficial and appropriate use of Proposition A money.