Accord May End Impasse Over Parkland

A state park agency appears to be on the brink of settling a bitter four-year legal fight to condemn Soka University’s scenic Calabasas campus after two local lawmakers unveiled a proposal Wednesday to limit the school’s size and create hundreds of acres of public space.

The proposal by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) is designed to amicably end one of the nastiest and costliest land use battles over the Santa Monica Mountains in recent history.

Since 1992, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Japanese-language school have waged war over 245 of Soka’s 660 acres whose sweeping views and oak-dotted meadows made them a coveted parkland centerpiece.

Wednesday’s proposal calls for the conservancy to drop its efforts to seize the land through eminent domain and support expansion of the campus to a 650-student liberal arts college. In return, Soka would set aside 375 of its 660 acres as public open space and agree to never build on an additional 35 acres.

The executive boards of the conservancy and its sister agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, are scheduled to meet March 25 to consider the proposal, which was drafted in private meetings over the last five months.

Both boards will almost certainly approve the proposal, sources said, because the conservancy has no money to continue a legal fight that has cost more than $1 million in public funds.

The conservancy’s executive director, Joseph T. Edmiston, predicted “very substantial support for this on the conservancy board.”

“If this had been on the table in December 1992,” Edmiston said, “nobody in their right mind would have . . . filed” the condemnation action.

Soka spokesman Jeff Ourvan declined to comment, saying that too many potential settlements have been scotched at the last minute in recent years.

Under the proposed settlement, Soka would expand in phases over several years. All buildings would be limited to 35 feet in height--or three to four stories--and would be built in meadows at the back of the property to minimize the impact on views. Overall construction would be limited to 440,000 square feet.

The proposal is similar in many respects to one suggested in October, which included more buildings and less open space. That proposal was rejected by Yaroslavsky and Beilenson as favoring the university at the public’s expense. Soon after, the two began negotiating directly with Soka on the conservancy’s behalf.

Beilenson said the current proposal allows the conservancy to remain solvent and secures guarantees from Soka that it will not seek to expand beyond its 650-student cap for at least 25 years. It also would protect wildlife corridors and panoramic views from Mulholland Highway and Las Virgenes Road.

“I’m sorry we can’t have the whole property, but we can’t,” he said. “What can I say? We are faced with certain realities.”

Appraisals by the conservancy estimated the cost of the property--which includes the historic mansion of razor magnate King Gillette--at just under $20 million. But Soka said the property was worth far more.

Over the last two years, however, it became increasingly clear that the conservancy did not have even $20 million in hand. As early as 1994, the conservancy sought to avoid a showdown in court. A proposal to share the property with Soka was blasted by nearby neighbors, environmentalists and public officials who said the traffic and noise would be disastrous.

Longtime environmentalists condemned Wednesday’s proposal as undermining the idea of a national park in the Santa Monicas. “It’s a serious loss for the mountains,” said David Brown of Calabasas. “This was an ideal place to get people into the mountains. It’s a tragedy.”

Yaroslavsky agreed that it would be a shame to lose the property as public parkland, but said that “the likelihood of the campus being purchased by a public agency was nil. For the conservancy to proceed down that road is to go down the road to oblivion and to undermine the very reason it was created.”

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The Soka Battle

Soka University and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy have battled over scenic land at the Calabasas campus for several years. The state agency has been trying to take over 245 of the school’s 662arces to use as a visitor center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The small language school wants to expand into a liberal arts college. On Wednesday, a settlement was reached.