80 acres added to park in Verdugos

Surrounded on all sides by urban sprawl, the Verdugo Mountains in the northeast corner of Los Angeles are one of the last remnants of wilderness in that section of the city, where coyotes, raccoons and lizards still live in dense brush and chaparral.

For years, developers have thought of the Verdugos as ripe for new homes. But conservationists celebrated a victory Saturday as city officials dedicated 80 acres to expand Los Angeles’ existing 485-acre Verdugo Mountain Park, just northeast of Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport.

“We had a unique opportunity to preserve this land, and once it’s gone, we can never get it back,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who was perched on the gravel edge of Chandler Fire Road at a morning ribbon cutting. “Let me be clear: This 80 acres and the total 565 acres will be preserved forever.”

On Saturday, Cheryl Burns was already taking advantage of the park, bringing her puppies, Tara, a 16-week-old black Lab, and Rip, a 21-week-old Queensland Heeler, for a hike. Blue skies and clear conditions gave hikers a startlingly clear view across the valley floor.

“We have too many houses as it is,” said Burns, 39, who grew up in nearby La Tuna Canyon and now lives in Shadow Hills. “We need to preserve the mountain areas.”

The city recently finalized its purchase of the 80 acres, buying it from an owner whose bid to subdivide the land for development was rejected, officials said. The city paid a little more than $2 million, funded by money from Proposition 40, passed by California voters in 2002, and L.A.’s Proposition K, a property tax passed in 1996.

Conservationists said the land was particularly at risk, as it sits adjacent to hillside homes on Lanark Street, just north of the Golden State Freeway. On Saturday, an old Realtor’s sign still remained at the foot of a fire trail, advertising “over 11 acres for development.”

“A few years ago, there was a fear that all these ridgelines would be threatened,” said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the city Department of Recreation and Parks. “This is kind of an oasis.”

The Verdugo Mountains have been a controversial battleground between developers and conservationists. In 2005, the City Council approved construction of Canyon Hills, a gated subdivision on the northern cusp of the Verdugos north of the Foothill Freeway.

Developer Rick Percell sought to build 5-acre ranchettes across the 887 acres he owned. But Greuel brokered a deal in which Percell would build about 220 homes on smaller lots and donate about 600 untouched acres to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Greuel’s involvement remains a sore point among some conservationists, who were critical of the number of houses allowed.

“We were pretty angry with her,” said Dean Wallraff, who until this month was the conservation chairman of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.

But Wallraff credited Greuel for her ongoing efforts to acquire more parkland and said she brought together a task force of conservation and community groups to identify further potential purchases of parkland.

On Saturday, Greuel hinted about another purchase of parkland that was in the works but did not give any details.

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ron.lin@latimes.com