The state budget includes bond money that could give the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy its long-sought opportunity to purchase the 600 acres that were formerly slated to become a Japanese university campus.
By Susan Reines/Special to The Malibu Times
The state budget signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger Saturday included $22 million that will likely go to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for the purchase of 600 acres in the middle of the Santa Monica Mountains. State and national parks organizations have been eyeing the property for almost three decades, but it was not until recently that the Japanese university that owns it indicated willingness to sell.
More than 10 years ago, the SMMC took the property, which is just north of Malibu Creek State Park, by eminent domain to stop Soka University from building a 3,500-student campus there. But when it came time to pay for the land, SMMC could not gather the funds to complete the purchase.
Since then, at the urging of Assemblymember Fran Pavley and Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the California Legislature agreed to allocate $22 million from Propositions 50 and 40 to SMMC, with the unwritten intention that the money would be used to purchase the Soka property. Schwarzenegger’s signature on the budget Saturday finalized those funds.
Chief Deputy Director of SMMC Rorie Skei said the money was in the budget and “very definitely the conservancy is expecting to authorize a grant to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority,” which is the body that would organize the purchase.
Dave Brown, a member of the SMMC Advisory Committee, said he believes Soka had decided to sell the property because mass opposition to the university development in Malibu had convinced it to take its operation to Orange County.
After the 1992 eminent domain action collapsed for lack of funds, Malibu environmental land-use attorney Frank Angel won a lawsuit that limited Soka’s options for development, likely spurring the decision to move to Orange County, although Soka officials were unavailable to confirm their reasons for the sudden willingness to sell.
Whatever their reasons, Skei said Soka officials have indicated they are now willing to sell. “But,” she said, “They’re not going to wait forever. They’ve basically indicated that they would entertain an offer, but they want it to happen soon.” Specifically, Skei said, Soka wants to sell by the end of the year.
However, the problem of funding could rear its head again. Appraisers have not given a final estimate of the land’s worth, but both Skei and Brown said it would likely be more than $22 million.
But Brown said SMMC is “on track to accumulating the money they need to buy the property.”
Help could come in the form of moneys from other governmental agencies. Sierra Club officials, who have kept close watch over the Soka property, said in a statement that bond money from the Coastal Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Board could be available to aid the purchase.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club have sought to protect the land not only because it is one of the last large open spaces in the area, but also because it functions as one of the few remaining corridors that bring wildlife to and from the mountains.