WINDSOR, Calif. — The state Coastal Conservancy on Wednesday agreed to contribute $34.5 million toward preserving the Hearst Ranch as open space, but altered the deal slightly to require more public access along the ranch's 18 miles of beaches, grassy bluff tops and rocky headlands.
The Coastal Conservancy, which has a legal mandate to maximize public beach access, insisted that the Hearst Corp. remove restrictions that would have barred the public from this coastal strip west of California 1 from a half-hour before sunset to a half-hour after sunrise. Now the area will close after dark.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday September 23, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 77 words Type of Material: Correction
Hearst Ranch -- An article in the Sept. 16 California section about a pending deal to preserve much of the historic Hearst Ranch misidentified Graham Chisholm, the author of a letter critical of the deal, as executive director of the Nature Conservancy's program in California. He was its executive director when he wrote the letter but had resigned before the article was published. His resignation was announced this week. Conservancy officials said they stand by the letter.
It also encouraged state officials to work with Hearst Corp. to allow parking facilities, picnic tables and restrooms on what is slated to become a strip of state parkland
As the deal is fashioned, Hearst has agreed to turn over 13 of the 18 miles of shoreline west of California 1 (about 1,500 acres) to the state as parkland and forfeit the rights to develop about 400 homes on the ranch's 80,000 acres east of the highway.
In return, Hearst, a major media company that owns newspapers, magazines and TV stations, would receive $80 million in cash and $15 million in state tax credits. It would keep the right to build a 100-room hotel and 27 homes it could sell or distribute among Hearst family members who own the corporation. It also could build 15 homes for ranch employees.
The conservancy's action was the second of three approvals needed for the $95-million deal that would protect one of California's most beloved landscapes: the grassy tablelands, unblemished pocket beaches and rocky shoreline that offer a scenic gateway to Big Sur for the 4 million people a year driving the coast highway. The state Public Works Board will take up the matter next, probably in November.
But to the disappointment of coastal activists and some state officials, the seven-member conservancy board didn't toughen the conservation deal or insist on removing an assortment of other restrictions that Hearst has proposed that will affect public use of state parkland.
Nor did the conservancy push the Hearst Corp. to allow the state-long California Coastal Trail to run through five miles of oceanfront property that Hearst will keep. Hearst has insisted that any trail on its coastal property run alongside California 1.
