Land Conservancy Signs Paperwork to Restrict Development on Hearst Ranch

Capping years of often rancorous debate over the future of the sprawling Hearst Ranch along California’s Central Coast, a land preservation group announced Wednesday that it has signed an option to purchase development rights on the 82,000-acre ranch.

The option gives the American Land Conservancy a year to come up with the $100 million or more that it will cost to permanently restrict development on the 128-square-mile ranch and open 18 miles of beach to the public.

“We have a lot of work ahead to bring this dream of conservation to a successful conclusion,” said Harriet Burgess, president of the conservancy. But signing the option agreement makes her “confident that the Hearst Ranch will be forever preserved.”

Stephen T. Hearst, vice president and general manager of the Sunical Land & Livestock Division of the Hearst Corp., said Wednesday’s action “offers a great opportunity that we hope can be realized soon.”

The Hearst Ranch, which consists of miles of rocky beaches favored by sea lions, craggy hills and wind-swept yellowed pastures, is one of the last great coastal properties left in California. Its future, envisioned as everything from a modern city to a golfing and riding resort with its own airport, has been a matter of debate longer than most political careers on the Central Coast.

The signing announcement comes nearly two months after Hearst and the conservancy announced a tentative agreement on a basic framework to protect the ranch in perpetuity. Signing the option agreement is the next step in the process and commits the Land Conservancy for the first time to making the deal work.

One environmentalist said, however, that the deal has yet to be endorsed by some of the most influential conservation groups in the area.

Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network, said that, although signing something “is a step in the right direction,” the agreement is still too vague for her comfort. She said that signing the deal without an appraisal is like “buying a house and not knowing you are paying.”

Kara Blakeslee, project manager of the conservancy, said negotiations are continuing on a variety of issues, including Hearst family desires to build as many as 27 homes on the ranch. They also want to erect a small resort hotel in Old San Simeon.

The decision to sign what is known as a Conservation Option Agreement before those negotiations are complete was driven in large part by financial considerations.

Much of the money to pay for the development rights must come from Proposition 50, a $3-billion parks bond passed by state voters last year.

Deciding which projects will qualify for Proposition 50 funding will be up to a consortium of state agencies, including the Department of Parks and recreation, the Department of Fish and Game, the Coastal Conservancy and members of the Legislature.

There will be strong competition for the money, and the sooner the Hearst Ranch can get in line, the better, Blakeslee said. Although no dollar figure was attached to the agreement announced Wednesday, cost estimates have ranged from $100 million to more than $300 million.

Final appraisals will not be completed for weeks, but Blakeslee predicted that the ultimate cost would be closer to the lower number.

“This is a real bargain for the people and state of California,” she said.

Under the conservation easement, the Hearsts will retain ownership of the ranch, but will give up the rights to develop it for either residential or commercial use. The Hearsts would have to keep the land in agriculture, but even the type of agriculture would be controlled by the agreement.

Cattle now graze the ranch and some row crops are grown. Historically, the Hearsts often wore the black hat, at least to Central Coast residents who feared that the family was going to spoil one of California’s last coastal jewels. But Burgess praised the family Wednesday.

“It is an affair of the heart for this family” to try to keep the ranch as it is, she said. “It’s a real generous position for them to take.”

There remain hurdles. Though it is not yet certain where the home sites will be, Blakeslee said, the Hearsts agree that all will be east of California 1. In other words, there will be no homes on the beach.

At one point in the negotiations, the Hearsts talked about retaining some private beaches for the family. No more, said Blakeslee. The only possible resort development will be a 100-room hotel in Old San Simeon village.

The Land Conservancy came to the Hearst negotiations late. Previously, the Hearsts had been talking with the better-known and more politically connected Nature Conservancy.

Some environmentalists said that the Land Conservancy was out of its league dealing with Hearst lawyers. Conscious of the skepticism, the land conservancy spent the last weeks reviewing the framework of the agreement with a variety of environmental, government and business interests on the Central Coast.