Developer Rejects Offer for Land in Big Tujunga Wash

A developer planning to create a golf course in Big Tujunga Wash has rejected a $3.5-million offer for the environmentally sensitive land, made earlier this week by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state parklands agency.

In a letter sent to members of the Los Angeles City Council, Mark Armbruster, an attorney representing Foothill Golf Development Corp., said that the bid was too low and that the corporation still wants the council to approve permits for the golf course.

“Foothill is not interested in selling the property to the conservancy, much less at this price, and therefore still desires your approval of the project as proposed,” he wrote.

The Los Angeles City Council had delayed a vote on construction permits for the golf course project to give the conservancy a chance to try to buy the land.

The project now returns to the council Tuesday for final approval.

Paul Edelman, a deputy division chief of the conservancy, was unavailable for comment late Friday.

The site is owned by Cosmo World, a Japanese firm that has tried for a decade to acquire development permits for the planned 18-hole Red Tail Golf Course.

The project has been opposed by environmentalists, including the conservancy, who call for the preservation of the Big Tujunga Wash as one of the country’s last remaining habitats of the endangered slender-horned spineflower.