Conservancy Considers Settlement With Soka : Park: Agency may give up plan for visitors center, allow school to expand from 300 to 650 students and ask for 400 acres of open space.

Under increasing pressure to resolve its costly condemnation lawsuit against Soka University, a state park agency is considering a proposal to settle the case and abandon its long-term goal of using the site as a showcase park in the Santa Monica Mountains, sources said Thursday.

The board of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy on Monday directed its negotiating team to present the settlement offer to Soka administrators, who for the past four years have fought off the agency’s efforts to seize the campus for public use.

But even as the talks appeared to be heading into their final phase, key political supporters of the deal withdrew their endorsements and sent the negotiations into a tailspin. Some said rough going is to be expected during any negotiations, but one source said, “The lunatics are running the asylum.”

Under the terms of the settlement proposal, Soka would be allowed to expand its 300-student Japanese language school on the historic estate built by razor magnate King Gillette into a liberal arts college of 650 students--far fewer than the 2,500 the university originally proposed.

The university would be permitted to build up to 570,000 square feet of classrooms, dormitories and faculty housing on flat sections of the property at the corner of Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway.

In addition, the university would dedicate about 400 of its 660 acres to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for use as public open space. The land would include some trails and wildlife corridors, but would not be developed into the visitors center parks officials long desired for the site.

Such a deal would no doubt alienate many of the conservancy’s key supporters in neighborhood groups that surround the mountain campus. But it would also rescue the cash-strapped agency from a costly lawsuit that threatens to undermine its long-term viability.

By quitting the condemnation action, the conservancy would be able to use much of the estimated $20 million it has earmarked for the Soka acquisition for other purchases--most notably, the Canyon Oaks property in Topanga Canyon, which the agency is under pressure to pay off.

Soka spokesman Jeff Ourvan declined to comment on specifics of the proposal, saying it had not been presented formally to the university. The conservancy board fleshed out the deal during closed session Monday and details were supposed to remain confidential during negotiations.

Ourvan did say, however, that the university is open to a settlement with the conservancy. “We would like to settle this peacefully,” he said. “But if the conservancy can’t get its act together, then we’ll see them in court.”

Conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston could not be reached for comment Thursday, and several conservancy board members refused to discuss the negotiations. But sources told The Times that the proposal was to have been presented to Soka negotiators earlier this week.

That meeting was canceled, though, after key political backers of a settlement dropped their support at the last minute. Sources said U.S. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) refused to support the proposal after he learned that Richard Sybert, a conservancy board member who challenged him in last year’s congressional election, voted against the settlement.

Beilenson, who authored the legislation creating the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in 1978, reportedly feared Sybert would use his “no” vote to drum up supporters among environmentalists who traditionally have supported Beilenson.

Beilenson could not be reached for comment.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said despite any political intrigue, negotiations with the university are ongoing. “If someone is telling you that the negotiations have fallen apart, they are mistaken,” he said. “Any time you are negotiating there are going to be bumps in the road.”

Soka and the conservancy have been locked in a bitter legal fight since late in 1992, when the conservancy launched eminent domain proceedings to acquire part of the school’s campus for parkland. State and federal parks officials have long coveted the Soka site as the site for a visitors center to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Despite offers from the conservancy, Soka refused to sell and instead submitted plans to Los Angeles County planning officials to expand the school.

After a number of smaller legal skirmishes, a judge last year upheld the conservancy’s right to condemn Soka property. A jury will next determine how much the conservancy must pay the school for the site. The conservancy must pay the award within 90 days or it loses the right to buy the property and can also be sued for damages.