Conservancy Makes Bid for Big Tujunga Land

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is offering $3.5 million to buy and preserve 352 acres of environmentally sensitive land along the banks of the Big Tujunga Wash where a developer wants to build an 18-hole golf course.

But a spokesman for the developer dismissed the offer Tuesday as too low, saying it would not even cover what the developer has already spent on designing and planning the project.

“I think it’s absurd the amount that has come out of their appraisal,” said Mark Armbruster, a lawyer for the developer, the Foothill Golf Development Group.

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council delayed a vote on construction permits for the golf course project to give the conservancy a chance to try to buy the land. But with a formal rejection of the conservancy’s bid expected soon, the project returns to the council Tuesday for final approval.

Armbruster said he has not formally received the offer, but he said he has received a conservancy appraisal of the property and knows that under state law the conservancy can offer no more than the appraised value of the land.

“I would certainly disagree with their appraisal as a fair market value,” he said.

The conservancy’s appraisal, performed by Malibu-based CAP Realty Advisors, evaluated the property based on its use as a golf course. It compared the land to six other properties in the Los Angeles Basin with similar characteristics.

“Our analysis of the six sales indicated that the subject property had a probable market value at $195,000 per potential hole or $3,500,000,” according to a copy of the appraisal provided by the conservancy.

The golf course would be built by Foothill Golf Development, but the land is owned by Cosmo World, a Japanese firm that has struggled for nearly 10 years for permits to establish a golf course on the site.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy, conceded that the offer is probably too low to interest Cosmo World, but pointed out that “we are prohibited by law from offering more than the fair market value.”

Asked if he was optimistic about buying the land at that price, he said: “We haven’t won every negotiation we have entered.”

The conservancy’s unanimous vote to make the offer came at a meeting late Monday night, at which environmentalists and others called for the preservation of the Big Tujunga Wash, which is one of the country’s last remaining habitats for the endangered slender-horned spineflower.

“There are many golf courses, but only one Big Tujunga Wash,” said Cile Borman, co-president of Small Wilderness Area Preservation.

Muriel Kotin, conservation chairwoman of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society, agreed.

“There is no land more important for you to purchase,” she said.

Most of the conservancy’s $3.5-million offer would be paid for with funding from Proposition A, a 1992 voter-approved bond measure to develop parks and open space. About $250,000 of the offer would come from money from Proposition 204, a voter-approved bond measure to finance a variety of water cleanup projects throughout the state.

Armbruster said the offer was surprising, considering that the conservancy has in the past talked of offering between $10 million and $12 million--offers which Cosmo World has rejected.

Armbruster declined to say how much the land is worth. But he said that the value of the land should include the value of the work Cosmo World has invested over the past 10 years in the golf development, which the developers expect would cost about $25 million when completed.

In the past few weeks, it has appeared likely the project would receive city permits because it has won the unanimous support of the city’s Planning Commission and of Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the Big Tujunga area.

To overturn the Planning Commission’s approval, the council would need at least 10 votes in opposition to the project.

The project also has the support of several homeowner groups and business organizations from the area around the proposed course, who say the development will help reduce the litter and vagrancy problems in the wash.

The golf developer won much of that support by promising to dedicate 192 acres of the property as open space for hiking, horse trails and a spineflower preserve.

If the project wins approval by the council, it must still get clearances from the California Department of Fish and Game to develop the land along the wash.

But Armbruster said he is not worried about the state permits.

“I think the council is the last major hurdle,” he said.