Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Conservancy Confirms Chevron Land Deal : Santa Susanas: The 3,035-acre parcel will cost $4.9 million. Santa Clarita’s purchase of a 53-acre site will generate $2 million toward the transaction.

Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will buy more than 3,000 acres of land--the largest single acquisition of acreage in its history--from Chevron Corp. for $4.9 million, officials of the nonprofit agency and company announced Monday.

The 3,035-acre parcel of land southwest of Santa Clarita is situated along the northern slope of the Santa Susana Mountains. The land, which the conservancy plans to preserve in its natural state, includes portions of Towsley, Pico, Wiley, Rice, East and Leaming canyons.

Negotiations for the land purchase began in 1990. Under the agreement--word of which leaked out last week--the conservancy will pay half of the $4.9 million now and the remainder within five years.

The city of Santa Clarita probably will provide about $2 million of the funds by purchasing 53 acres of land the conservancy owns west of the Golden State Freeway near Towsley Canyon. That purchase is expected to be approved at tonight’s Santa Clarita City Council meeting.

“This is one issue that we haven’t heard one word of complaint on,” said Mayor Jo Anne Darcy, who said that purchase of the 53 acres will not only preserve a greenbelt and historical area but also will inhibit any plans to create a landfill in Towsley Canyon.

The $2 million the city expects to pay for the parcel will come from funds raised from the sale of city bonds in 1991. That bond money was originally earmarked for road construction, but because the city has received funds from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for that purpose, the money was available for the purchase of open space.

The City Council approval “is mostly a formality, albeit an important one,” said Rod Spackman, a Chevron spokesman, in commenting on the deal that will add 3,000 acres to the conservancy’s holdings. “Except for some administration paperwork and the first transfer of payment, as a practical matter it is already the conservancy’s property.”