The following is a transcript of what Zepeda did say at the meeting that took place on July 9 with State Parks, representatives from LAACO, Ltd., and residents of the area concerning the Lower Topanga area.
Statement of Fred Zepeda
My name is Fred Zepeda, vice president for LAACO, Ltd. I’m in the Real Estate Division. I just want to present a letter for the record and make a short statement. Most of what’s been said here tonight is pretty much based in truth, colored obviously by a point of view and so what I’m going to share with you is in fact our point of view. We see this, not just a win win, but we see it as a win win win, three wins. I’ll get back to that in a little bit.
This property, back in the 1920s, was purchased to develop. It was going to be a Yacht Club with all the structures and all the things that go with a Yacht Club down at the end of the lagoon. It has always been a property to be developed. As a publicly traded company it is our responsibility to maximize the return to our stockholders. Since the plan was to develop the property, LAACO has always engaged in only 30-day rental agreements. This may sound self-serving at the moment but the rationale behind that was not to set-up the expectation of long-term tenancy. Obviously, circumstances have evolved to where many people have lived here for a very long time, but look at your agreements. They are still 30-day rental agreements. Many of you have asked for longer agreements. We have said no. Every year there is a rumor or two about development and I get questions from you, “is it true, do we have to leave?” My reason for stating this is that tenants have always known that they are here on a short-term basis. Yes they have been here for many years, yes it is their home but it is not a surprise to anyone because development has always been the goal of the company.
I just want to correct a point that was made earlier. Development on the property is, in fact, possible today. The local land use plan allows for development on that property, the revised land use plan will allow for some development. We can question where, how much, how to put it in, all of that has to be resolved but there can be development. I will tell you that even after announcing our option to the American Land Conservancy to sell this property to the State of California I continue to get calls from developers who are interested on the property and who want to make sure I call them if it falls through. So anyone who tells you that development is not possible is not right. I can tell you that in my desk I have some preliminary estimates for development on the northwest end of the property. So it’s not just around the beach. The reason I tell you this is because we really feel this is a win win win. The State of California will win, 63 million Californians voted for Prop 12 to do just exactly what the State Parks is doing here, providing parks where parks are needed. The second win, is for LAACO. We’re going to make some money from this.
We’ve owned the property for 70 years and the people who originally invested in this property and those who now own the stock deserve some return on that investment. The third win is all of you folks. Again this may sound self-serving but one of the pluses when we looked at selling this to the State of California was that you folks, you tenants, would get relocation money. Whether it’s forty, fifty thousand dollars or more is to be determined later. You will get money as opposed to getting a 30-day notice of termination from a developer.
If in fact this doesn’t happen, if the sale to the state does not happen, that will be the inevitable end. You will have a developer show up, joint venture with us and the property will be developed. Again I don’t say that in a threatening way, I started by telling you that this is our point of view, this is what we have to do.