Coastal Panel Denies Developer’s Bid : State Holds Its Ground on Open Area

A request by a real estate firm to increase the number of lots on a 272-acre mountain tract in Calabasas--land the federal government wants to acquire for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area--was rejected Wednesday by the California Coastal Commission.

The commission, meeting in Marina del Rey, upheld by a 10-2 vote its decision last September to allow no more than 34 homes on the oak-sprinkled tract along Mulholland Highway in the Las Virgenes Valley.

The real estate firm, Quaker Corp., subsequently filed a new application for 47 lots, and said it would seek approval for 10 more lots later on.

The refusal to allow more intensive development was immediately denounced by Leonard Ross, Quaker president, and applauded by advocates of federal acquisition, who said approval of Quaker’s request would have weakened the National Park Service’s bargaining position.

Decision Called ‘Arbitrary’

Ross, a Beverly Hills lawyer and businessman, called the decision “arbitrary, without precedent, contrary to law and . . . an attempt to take property without just compensation.”

Margot Feuer, a Malibu conservationist who testified against Quaker, said she was “delighted” by the vote of the commissioners. “Thank goodness they held fast,” she said.

Informed of the decision, Dan Kuehn, superintendent of the National Recreation Area, said approval of more lots would have raised the value of the land. “Since the taxpayers, represented by the Park Service, want to acquire that property for public use,” Kuehn said, the decision “is a good thing.”

The Recreation Area, which was given $7.95 million by Congress for land acquisition this year, has held about $3.6 million in reserve in the hope that it will be enough for acquisition of the Quaker tract, which has long been considered a high priority.

Ross has said the land is worth more than $10 million.

The amount the government must offer for a tract is set by appraisal, and the Park Service is now contracting to have one done. If the appraisal--which must take into account potential development--comes in higher than the $3.6 million, the Park Service could not make an offer without more funds being granted by Congress next year.

Under state law, the Coastal Commission cannot deny a request to develop land on the ground that the land may be acquired by the government, unless the purchase seems imminent.

Commissioner Thomas J. McMurray Jr., who voted for the increase to 47 lots, said it appeared that development of the Quaker tract was being “restrained by every means possible in order for it to be acquired.”

Commissioner Steve MacElvaine disagreed, saying, “I certainly don’t consider the granting of 34 lots. . . in the Santa Monica Mountains as a taking” of land.

Most of the debate, however, focused on technical criteria to be used in determining the allowable number of lots on land in the coastal zone.

Sherman L. Stacey, lawyer for Quaker, told the panel that the commission’s staff had arrived at the 34-lot maximum through “a misapplication of the law.” Stacey said 57 lots should be permitted.

Method Questioned

Stacey said the arithmetical method that the commission staff used had been rejected in a recent state court decision. Moreover, he said, the commission staff had exaggerated the natural-resource value of oaks on the tract and thus had called for more open space than needed.

Commission staff members, however, defended the method of arriving at 34 lots and said the method recommended by Stacey was flawed.

Park Service plans have long called for acquiring the Quaker property and a nearby 218-acre tract for use as a recreational center for the mountain park. The agency says the large amount of flat land and scenery make the properties ideal for picnicking, camping and other recreational uses.

However, the neighboring tract, owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant, was purchased last week for $15.5 million by Soka University of Japan. Park Service officials have said they hope to negotiate with the new owner, but an American representative of the school has said he doubts the school is willing to sell.

The Park Service owns about 12,000 of the 35,000 acres it eventually wants to acquire for the recreation area--actually a network of public parks interspersed with private holdings stretching from Griffith Park in Los Angeles to Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County.