SYLMAR : Deal to Protect Oak Woodland Reached

Ending a seven-year feud between developers and environmentalists, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has agreed to purchase a 246-acre tract of woodland in Wilson Canyon, protecting the area from residential development.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), conservancy Director Joseph T. Edmiston, and Tim Cantwell, owner of Cantwell-Anderson Inc., the Altadena developer that owns the land, will make the truce official today when they meet to announce the $3.9-million purchase agreement.

Wilson Canyon, which lies above Sylmar, includes an oak forest and trails popular with nature lovers, hikers and equestrians. Katz became involved in preserving the canyon seven years ago when Cantwell-Anderson proposed a housing development there.

Though the developer tried compromising with critics of its development by cutting the proposed number of homes to be built from 535 to 250, Katz and other elected officials, including then Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi and county Supervisor Ed Edelman, continued their opposition.

The area inside the canyon provides an important link to the Rim of the Valley Trail, which is made up of more than 100 miles of hiking and equestrian trails that snake across the Santa Monica, San Gabriel, Santa Susana, Simi and Verdugo ranges.

Katz said Thursday that the purchase agreement is one of the few benefits of the recent economic recession. “Had there been a building boom going on, this deal might not have happened,” Katz said.

But because of a sluggish economy and a depressed housing market, a recent appraisal of the land came in lower than expected, about $3.9 million, putting the price of the canyon within reach of the conservancy.

A 1990 appraisal of the land put its worth at between $6 million and $6.5 million.

The deal marks a rare conservancy incursion into an area outside the Santa Monica Mountains, where the organization traditionally has focused its efforts to preserve open spaces.

Katz said he hopes the conservancy’s involvement signals a new willingness to preserve areas in the northeast Valley.

“Middle-class families deserve open space just as much as the folks in Bel-Air do,” Katz said. “This is a good sign.”

The announcement of the agreement will be made at 10 a.m. in a field off Olive View Drive near the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. After the announcement, Katz and his wife, Gini Barrett, will lead horseback riders into the canyon.