Soka Property

In a major legal victory for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a judge ruled Wednesday that the agency has the authority to use eminent domain to seize Soka University's scenic Calabasas campus for parkland. After a two-hour hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Barnet Cooperman said it was "only common sense" to interpret state law as giving the conservancy the power to condemn private property for public use.

A noisy and increasingly nasty war of words is echoing through the usually quiet canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains this spring. The dispute pits the expansion plans of Soka University, which owns a chunk of parkland between Calabasas and Malibu, against recreational use by the public. The public's greater interest should win out here, but that doesn't mean Soka has to lose.

Choosing combat over compromise, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy early Tuesday rejected a tentative settlement with Soka University, vowing to press ahead with its lawsuit to seize part of the school's campus for parkland. The decision followed more than five hours of angry testimony from homeowners, environmentalists and elected officials who blasted the conservancy for even considering surrender in its fight to condemn Soka's scenic property to use as a park visitors center.

A tentative settlement between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Soka University would turn 173 acres of the school's scenic Calabasas campus into parkland--but only after Soka's expansion plans are approved and construction begins. In addition, the conservancy would be required to drop its 2-year-old eminent domain lawsuit, which seeks to condemn 245 of Soka's 662 acres at Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway.

A tentative settlement between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Soka University would turn 173 acres of the school's scenic Calabasas campus into parkland, but only after Soka's expansion plans are approved and construction begins. In addition, the conservancy would be required to drop its 2-year-old eminent domain lawsuit, which seeks to condemn 245 of Soka's 662 acres at Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway.

A state parks agency seeking to acquire part of Soka University's property in the Santa Monica Mountains reported Thursday that its board had unanimously agreed to make an offer for the land. The amount of the offer for 245 acres of land near Calabasas was not disclosed by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, an arm of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The state agency wants to make the site a national park headquarters.

A former top official of the Interior Department, a close friend of Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., has come under fire for helping fight efforts by state and federal parks agencies to acquire the campus of Soka University in Calabasas. Lou Gallegos, who resigned in November as an assistant secretary, has since done consulting work for both the Interior Department and Soka's Washington lobbying firm.

I read Joan Kay's letter ("Just Say 'No Deal' to Soka University," Oct. 9) with fascination. Kay does not have a single constituent and is dictating the course of action for all. Many voters in the community have expressed their displeasure with procedures that jeopardize the rights of property owners. When the word tolerate is used, it belies prejudicial sentiment, which is an integral part of Kay's position. One cannot help but wonder what personal anger drives her to attack an educational institution that would benefit the community.

I support the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy's efforts to acquire the King Gillette estate, which is presently owned by Soka University. This appears to be the only viable option for preserving the Santa Monica Mountains, an area recently described by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt as "an incredibly diverse and irreplaceable natural resource . . . like a rain forest." In 1986 the Park Service was actively negotiating to acquire the property when Soka came in and effectively bought it out from under them.

I wish Joe Edmiston of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would back off and let the National Park Service provide the public with its plans for the Soka University property. The park service should have to provide the same kind of information, and be under the same scrutiny, that has been required of Soka University. Condemnation must not be a solution to land-use controversies, even when it's applied for the alleged sake of environmentalism. The public should decide, and all the facts be available.