State May Condemn Soka Land, Judge Rules : Conservancy: Victory puts parks agency’s focus on cost of acquiring campus acreage. College says it will appeal.

In a critical victory for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a judge on Thursday ruled that the agency may condemn Soka University’s scenic Calabasas campus for public parkland.

Judge Barnet M. Cooperman’s ruling changes the focus in the fight for the campus from whether the conservancy may condemn to how much it must pay--a price ultimately determined by a jury.

“That’s it,” said conservancy staff counsel Liz Cheadle. Parks officials have long coveted the land as a showpiece acquisition that would serve as a visitors center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Even as conservancy lawyers savored victory outside the courtroom, Soka spokesman Jeff Ourvan vowed that the university would appeal the ruling and characterized the conservancy as a victim of its own success.

“This ruling ironically kills the conservancy’s effectiveness,” he said, explaining that it “forces them to begin selling off existing parkland to start saving for the Soka acquisition.”

Indeed, the toughest part of the conservancy’s fight may lie ahead. Although conservancy officials have set aside more than $19 million to buy Soka out, the jury may award the school many millions more, perhaps pricing it beyond the agency’s reach.

On Monday, the conservancy board will meet to discuss which of its park holdings could be sold off to raise cash. Already, Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston has told the board that all new acquisitions--such as the Canyon Oaks project in Topanga Canyon--must be put on hold.

The conservancy--a state agency that acquires parkland--is trying to take over 245 of Soka’s 662 acres at the corner of Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway for use as a visitors center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Soka, on the other hand, wants to expand its 200-student language school into a liberal arts college enrolling 3,500 students at the site, which includes the former ranch of razor magnate King Gillette.

The school rejected an offer to buy the property in 1992.

Although a considerable step forward for the conservancy, Thursday’s decision by no means assures the university will pass into public hands. Soka attorneys have said that if the jury values Soka’s property at more than the conservancy can pay--roughly $20 million--then the school will sue the agency for dealing in bad faith.

Even if the conservancy can afford the ultimate price of the property, Soka lawyers have threatened to sue to force the agency to purchase the remaining 417 acres on the argument that it would then become unusable.

In fact, it is unlikely that the final outcome of the battle will be decided by the trial courts. Both sides acknowledged that the state Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court--possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court--will be the final arbiters of the case.

Last month, the conservancy and Soka had hoped to avoid the costly legal fight that lies ahead--a fight that will cost the public millions of dollars regardless of which side wins.

Under a tentative settlement agreement between the two, Soka would have sold to the conservancy much of the land it is seeking to condemn through eminent domain--including the historic Gillette mansion and grounds.

Soka, in turn, would have built a scaled-down campus of 2,500 students on the eastern part of the property. The deal would have taken effect only after the school’s plans were approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

But faced with intense criticism from a coalition of homeowners, environmentalists and elected officials, the conservancy board rejected the settlement offer and vowed to press ahead with the case.