Hearst, State Tentatively Agree to Coastal Land Preservation

California officials and Hearst Corp. have reached a tentative agreement on a $95-million deal to preserve most of the rolling hills and grassy tablelands of the Hearst Ranch around San Simeon, which have long served as a picturesque gateway to Big Sur.

Under the proposed accord, which California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman announced after months of negotiations, the state would buy about 1,400 acres west of Highway 1. The purchase would make public about 13 miles of the state’s best-known undeveloped stretch of coast -- a land of cliffs, rocky outcrops and short beaches colonized by lounging elephant seals.

Hearst Corp. would retain ownership of four parcels along the coast, totaling five miles of shoreline. At the base of one of those parcels -- San Simeon Point -- the company, owned by a family foundation, would retain the right to build a 100-room hotel based on architectural plans of Julia Morgan, who designed Hearst Castle.

The corporation would allow some public access across each of the parcels by way of the California Coastal Trail, a work in progress that is designed to run the length of the state.

On the rest of the roughly 120-square-mile cattle ranch that surrounds Hearst Castle, a “conservation easement” would prevent most development. The ranch reaches from the coastline far into the forests and rangeland of the Santa Lucia Mountains in northern San Luis Obispo County.

Hearst Corp. would keep the right to build 27 homes deep in the canyons so long as they were out of view of the highway and Hearst Castle, which is owned and operated by state park officials. The homes are presumably for family members, but could be sold to outsiders, according to negotiators. The family has owned the ranch since 1865.

Many details have yet to be divulged. But Chrisman said all aspects of the deal, along with legal documents, would be released for public inspection before the funding was approved by the state Wildlife Conservation Board and the state Coastal Conservancy -- two of the steps toward final approval.

“Once [the accord is] consummated, I believe all Californians will be well served by our efforts to present this spectacular working landscape as envisioned by William Randolph Hearst nearly a century ago,” Chrisman said in a statement.

Stephen T. Hearst, the great-grandson of William Randolph and manager of the company’s extensive real estate holdings, said the corporation was pleased to have finally reached an accord after five years of work.

“This landmark agreement will establish permanent public access to 18 miles of pristine coastline and preserve views of the Pacific and unique Central Coast ranchlands,” said Hearst, who has performed most of the corporation’s work on the deal.

The $95-million price tag for the deal includes $80 million in cash and $15 million in state tax credits. About $23 million would come from the California Department of Transportation as part of a pool of money used to preserve scenic highway views. The remainder would come from voter-approved bond measures designed to preserve open space, wildlife habitat and watersheds.

Chrisman, in a brief interview, said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had been briefed on the tentative deal, but declined to characterize the governor’s level of enthusiasm. Nor would he divulge any details of the agreement, suggesting that there would be plenty of time for “extensive public comment” over the plan’s finer points this summer.

“The statement will have to stand on its own,” Chrisman said. “We’ve still got issues, some things to work through.”

The resources secretary said that after any purchase of coastal property from the ranch, the California Department of Parks and Recreation would end up managing the land.

The conservation easement, which would cover nearly all of the rest of the land, would preserve “the ecological and agricultural values of the property.”

Sam Schuchat, executive officer of the Coastal Conservancy, was a key negotiator for the state. “We may not get everything we want,” Schuchat said. “But if you get enough, then you have to say, ‘This is a big opportunity.’ Land values are only going to go up.”

In addition to Hearst and state officials, the deal involves the American Land Conservancy and the California Rangeland Trust, two private, nonprofit groups that strive to preserve open space and working ranches from the high-stakes pressure of urban development.

All the parties will work on legal documents to be presented later this summer to the boards that oversee the spending of state conservation bond money.

The state Resources Agency, which was criticized under previous governors for not revealing details of other big deals until after they were approved, has committed itself to releasing the legal documents before state agencies make their decisions.

Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network, said she was eager to see the details to make sure taxpayers were getting a good deal, particularly since the bulk of the ranch would remain in private hands with only the development rights restricted.

“This is not a simple land purchase; it’s a complicated conservation deal,” Jordan said. “We want to make sure this land is protected forever and there’s no weakening of restrictions in the future.”

She and other conservation activists say the worth of the deal will depend in part on details such as the precise boundaries of the oceanfront property that Hearst will continue to own, the degree of public access, the location of the 27 home sites, the restrictions on the type of agricultural use of the ranchland, and the ability of the state to enforce the conservation easement if Hearst Corp. tries to test it in the future.

On the other side of the years-long debate, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Shirley Bianchi said she worried that what she saw as nit-picking by conservationists would disrupt a deal that she considered a great opportunity for the public.

Bianchi, a neighboring rancher, was once a leading critic of Hearst’s proposal to build a resort complex around San Simeon Point.

Plans for the resort, which would have included a golf course, 650-room hotel and dude ranch, provoked broad public opposition and were rebuffed by the California Coastal Commission in 1998.

In 1965 Hearst had architects draw up plans to build a town of 65,000 that would have been called Piedras Blancas -- a project never pursued by the media corporation that owns magazines, TV and radio stations, and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle.

“When I started opposing development up there, the Hearsts could have done all sorts of stuff,” Bianchi said. “To get it down to a 100-room inn and 27 houses, it’s phenomenal.”

As for Hearst, the company says it is forgoing rights to build roughly 400 homes on 271 parcels approved for subdivision by the county after Hearst unearthed obscure land records that date to the 19th century.

Most of those parcels, however, are far east of Highway 1, in the hills and Santa Lucia Mountains. The lots on steep terrain are the least desirable for building -- unless they could be moved toward the ocean through a legal procedure known as lot-line adjustments.

In 2001, the state Legislature passed a law that made large-scale adjustment of lot lines impossible.

The law was passed after The Times wrote that Hearst Corp. planned to use the procedure to increase the development potential of the ranch.