Signs of Truce in Great Land War : A sensible compromise is weighed in Calabasas dispute

One of Southern California’s most bitter and costly land battles may be finally drawing to a close, and far more amicably than anticipated. That’s if the executive boards of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority agree later this month to a most reasonable solution.

Since 1992, the conservancy has waged war with Soka University over 245 acres of magnificent oak-studded property owned by the school. The dispute has stood in sharp contrast to the warm reception Soka received when it purchased 100 acres in the Orange County community of Aliso Viejo.

The conservancy has coveted Soka’s Santa Monica Mountains land for a visitors facility, a centerpiece for the park. It would not budge, despite the diminishing returns of exorbitant legal costs. It went so far as to seek to seize and purchase the land through eminent domain. Soka was equally intransigent, rejecting the thought of shifting its plans for a 1.4-million-square-foot, 2,500-student university to its Orange County property.

Now a sensible compromise has been brokered by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Anthony Beilenson. The conservancy would drop its eminent-domain efforts and agree to an expansion of the existing Soka campus in rural Calabasas over 15 years. Structures would not exceed 440,000 square feet, and enrollment would be held to 650. Soka would set aside 375 of its 660 acres as public space, while agreeing to not build on 35 other acres. There would be no park visitors center, but the exterior of the King Gillette mansion would be preserved and maintained.

The conservancy should welcome the deal and the end of a dispute that has already cost more than $1 million in public funds. It simply cannot afford to do otherwise.