District to Sell Westside Parcel

After 22 years of leasing out prime Westside property at a loss to a private equestrian club, Los Angeles school district officials Monday said they are preparing to sell the parcel to the highest bidder.

The land was last appraised at $14 million, but some school district officials believe that it could fetch up to $27 million.

The sale of the land could be completed within six months, said Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Roy Romer. Locals, who refer to the parcel at the foot of Sullivan Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains as the “Central Park of West L.A.,” have begun discussing pooling funds to buy it. If that happens, the residents would turn management responsibilities over to a public conservancy, according to people involved with the effort.

In the past, people who live near the land have battled repeatedly to prevent the property from being developed either for new homes or for use as a school.

“It could take one benevolent neighbor, or a group that wants to ensure that the area keeps this horse riding environment,” said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes the Sullivan Canyon area and who supports the neighborhood effort to buy the land.

“Either that, or the school district’s sale will occur and something else might be done with this property,” she said.

School district officials concur that a sale is in the works. “I definitely think it should be sold because the district needs money to buy new schools for children who need them,” said Marsha Lawrence, a senior real estate agent with the district.

“I don’t think horses are the best use for the land. But if the neighbors want to buy it and put a horse ranch on it, I’d have no objections to that,” she said.

In any case, Lawrence said, “don’t expect to ever see a gas station or a convenience store on that particular lot.”

The property near Pacific Palisades is divided into five lots and zoned for single-story family dwellings, parkland, a playground, a community center or small gardens.

The district bought the land in 1961 in anticipation of a westward expansion in enrollment that never materialized. Instead, the parcel, purchased for $280,000, was soon surrounded by large homes owned by people who either had no children or sent them to private schools.

The district has been trying to sell the property on and off since 1982, but all such efforts have collapsed largely because of intense opposition from the neighbors, who enjoy the open space and access to its corrals. Separate efforts to establish a charter school or a nature conservancy on the land have failed.

But the parcel’s value has doubled over the past five years, according to district officials.

Realtor Michele Hall of Coldwell Banker Previews described the land as “absolutely magnificent, one of the prime parcels in California.”

“It will be very, very desirable for most people to want to purchase and build a beautiful home in that area--Steven Spielberg and Robert Wagner live up there,” she said. “But there will still be a bottom line--people will have to pay for it. For example, it’s on a septic tank right now. Still unknown is what the city will require for it to be developed.”

Neighbor Mia Argentieri hopes that her neighbors decide the cost is worth paying.

“I think that land should be put up for sale; it’s only fair,” she said. “And there’s a dozen or so people up here who could come up with the big money and not be hurt by it.

“I just think the homeowners should have first crack at it because they have historical seniority.”

School district officials said the district is not allowed to give preference to a private offer. Public agencies, however, will receive notice of the impending sale 60 days in advance of the bidding, officials said.

Then, if the property is not sold to a public agency for use as a park or for recreational purposes, Lawrence said, “and someone bids $14,000,001 and another offers $14,000,002, the first person will have to bid a dollar higher to get it.”

In the meantime, just the sight of horseback riders trotting beneath the eucalyptus groves of Sullivan Canyon irks neighbor Lee Pollard, 80, a retired furniture designer who said he has complained for years “against having wealthy folks using a multimillion-dollar piece of property at taxpayers’ expense.”

“Why should we be subsidizing a riding club on public property when kids need schools?” he said. “It’s just wrong.”

Romer agreed.

“I want a public sale held as soon as possible,” he said. “Then I want to use the proceeds to find sites to build new school buildings.”