Deervale Site May Be Sold as Parkland

A city plan to acquire the controversial Deervale-Stone Canyon land long targeted by developers has gained enough momentum that development opponents now predict the owner will sell off the property for use as open space.

City officials recently gave Deervale-Stone Canyon high priority on a list of projects eligible for funds from Proposition K, a county parks measure passed by voters in November. A total of $2.3 million will be available for the acquisition of the 80-acre Deervale site and four other parcels in fiscal 1997-98, which begins July 1.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said he will take a lead role in negotiations with developer Kenneth Chang.

“The only logical thing for him to do is to sell it as a park,” Edmiston said Tuesday. “The only issue is going to be price.”

Edmiston said the city would acquire the land, but then turn it over to the conservancy for management. He added that plans call for adding little more than a picnic table or two to the land, which already has a few hiking trails running through it.

Chang, who did not return telephone messages Tuesday, is the latest in a series of developers who have proposed a variety of residential projects for the steep, rocky area below Mulholland Drive in the past 15 years.

Each project has been greeted by stiff opposition from residents, who say the site has too many rock and mud slides and is too valuable a natural habitat to be developed.

City officials are appraising the property, which is estimated to be the largest undeveloped parcel in Sherman Oaks. Negotiations are expected to begin in the coming months.

“It’s going to be a negotiating battle between the city and county, who have the money, and the developer,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. and a development opponent. “In this market, I would assume [Chang] would be happy to get a buyer.”