TOPANGA : Canyon Oaks Site Named for Edelman

Ending a sideshow controversy to one of the biggest land disputes in Los Angeles County history, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has named parkland once slated for the Canyon Oaks development after a local lawmaker.

The conservancy named 257 hillside acres known as Summit Valley, which until recently was proposed for luxury homes and a golf course, after Los Angeles County Supervisor Edmund D. Edelman, who engineered a last-minute deal to preserve the land as a public park.

The conservancy’s decision at its regular meeting Monday night to name the land Summit Valley Edmund D. Edelman Park was intended as a compromise with some local residents who felt the park name should reflect the heritage of the area.

An earlier proposal to name the park--plus 405 adjacent acres--the Edmund D. Edelman Wilderness Park was abandoned after catching flak from some Topanga residents and Native American advocates.

“The community people felt it should be named something that relates to what it is and the area has been known as Summit Valley,” said Jerry Daniel, chairman of the conservancy’s board of directors.

Some were still perturbed, however, that a politician’s name will be fixed to the ancient home of Chumash and Tongva Indians, which local residents have fought to save from development for more than two decades.

“I look to the naming of the park as the crowning glory of a long battle,” said Jill Swift, a Santa Monica Mountains activist. “Supervisor Edelman came in on the tail end of what other people worked for for a long time.”

Edelman, who plans to retire at the end of this term, helped hammer out a deal between the conservancy and the developer hours before a hearing on whether to approve Canyon Oaks. In the supervisor’s hearing room the next morning, hundreds of gleeful Topanga residents cheered the surprise announcement.

Susan Petrulas Nissman, chairwoman of Topanga Assn. for a Scenic Community, said Edelman deserves recognition. But she downplayed the significance of the park name.

“We spend a lot of time picking the names of our children because there is importance in a name,” she said. “But the important thing here is that we saved this land. Now we have to get beyond the name and help create an incredible park.”

The conservancy will honor Edelman at a naming ceremony at the park Saturday, and will hold public hearings later to discuss possible names for the other 405 acres.