Coasts & Mountains

Erasing “wire blight” in Topanga

It isn’t the sexiest construction project in Los Angeles County. And it won’t be finished until 2014.

But to anyone acquainted with the hazards of fire season—or just the hazards of trying to find an unobstructed view in pretty-but-populous Southern California—the plans taking shape this month in Topanga eventually should offer a whole new perspective.

Next week, the county Department of Public Works and Southern California Edison representatives will launch a series of meetings to discuss the undergrounding of overhead utility lines in the rural community’s central business district around Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Old Topanga Canyon Road.

The $2.4 million project, which will be paid for by a statewide utility fee administered by Southern California Edison in L.A. County, will bury about a third of a mile’s worth of electricity, cable and phone lines that now clutter the view and present ongoing traffic and fire hazards along the right-of-way.

“The main goal is aesthetic, but there’s also a safety issue,” says Steve Dunn, a senior civil engineer at Public Works.  Power poles along winding roads, such as Topanga’s, raise the risk of motor vehicle crashes.  And in recent years, at least three massive Southern California brushfires have erupted as tree limbs and lashing utility lines have been blown into overhead power conductors by Santa Ana winds elsewhere in the region.

The project is one of many funded by the California Public Utility Commission’s so-called “Rule 20” program, which combats “wire blight” by helping communities and municipalities bury utility lines. Rule 20 regulates a utility’s recovery of the costs of undergrounding overhead electric equipment and gives local governments dibs on a share of a power company’s capital budget according to the number of rate-payers in each jurisdiction.

The annual amounts are not large—the average cost of an undergrounding project only adds about a nickel a month to the average residential customer’s electric bill, according to SCE—but over time, a municipality’s share can accumulate.

Unincorporated Los Angeles County’s allotment, for instance, amounts to about $3 million annually, which the County then splits among its five supervisorial districts.

The Topanga project will be funded by nearly two decades’ worth of the Third Supervisorial District’s allotment.

Other recent projects include a $4 million undergrounding project in an unincorporated area near Arcadia and a $10 million undergrounding and reconstruction project along 2.6 miles of Rosemead Boulevard.

This month’s meeting, Dunn says, will acquaint the community with the project and launch the environmental documentation. (And notify Topangans, incidentally, that construction is expected to take about 1½ years once it breaks ground in 2013.) The gathering is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Topanga Elementary Charter School Auditorium.

Posted 3/8/11

Plunge in for Special Olympics

Love the idea of splashing in frigid water for charity but hate traveling to an icy destination to do it? You’re in luck. Chill out at the Polar Plunge, jumping off this Saturday, Feb. 26, from two SoCal locations: Zuma Beach and Lake Castaic.

The Plunge benefits Special Olympics Southern California, whose programs help local children and adults with intellectual disabilities improve their self esteem and physical fitness. Sponsors include the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Beaches and Harbors, and county Lifeguards. Sheriff’s deputies and lifeguards will be on hand to participate and keep plungers safe.

You can register individually or as part of a team, and family and friends are welcome to cheer the plungers on. A minimum donation of $50 per individual is required to participate, which entitles you to a T-shirt, a chance at prizes, plenty of hot coffee and the knowledge that you have contributed to a good cause. If you want to show support without taking the plunge, simply donate to one of the teams.

Registration for the Zuma Beach Plunge begins at 8:30 a.m., and the plunge itself is at 10 a.m. A light breakfast will be served before the event, which will be hosted by Miss Malibu 2011. Lifeguards will perform a mock helicopter rescue, and KTLA anchor Glen Walter will announce the start of the plunge. UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and USC’s Marshall School of Business are bringing large groups. You can park for free on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway, or for $4.75 in the Zuma Beach lot.

Registration for the Castaic Lake Plunge begins at 8 a.m., and the plunge is at 10 a.m. (Be forewarned: Snow is forecast for the day of the event!) The Castaic Lions Club will provide a pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Parking is free on Castaic Lake Road at the West Ramp entrance.

Veteran plungers recommend wearing something to protect your feet from the cold sand, and bringing towels and warm clothing for the chilly aftermath. You can plunge as deep and long as you want (within lifeguard safety guidelines), but keep your head above water so you can be spotted. Wacky costumes are welcome, and an award will be given at each location for the best one.

And if you decide to brave the February waters this weekend, why not share your photos on our website? Those who took part can savor the memory, and those who didn’t can shiver in solidarity.

Posted 2/24/11

The sandman cometh to Venice

On paper, it sounds almost boring: Move some sand across a beach. But when you’re talking about Venice Beach—L.A.’s seaside cradle of Beats and bodybuilders, celebrities and chainsaw jugglers—not even the sand wants to be ordinary.

So next month, engineers will be dodging just about everything from roosting birds to running grunions to random pipes and renegade sunbathers when the county’s long-awaited shore refurbishment gets underway.

The $1.66 million project, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, will restore a section of beach around the landmark lifeguard headquarters that has been significantly eroded in recent years.

Since the construction of Venice’s breakwater in the early 1900s, the coast has been susceptible to erosion because the sand can’t be replenished by natural wave action. Over the decades, sections of beach have been periodically nourished, although fresh sand has not been added since the 1970s.

But the winter storms of 2004 and 2005 left the beach particularly damaged, and the wind and waves chewed it up again last winter. As a result, the renowned attraction was reduced to a dispiriting shadow of its famous old self, and local beachgoers couldn’t help but mourn the estimated 30,000 cubic feet of sand that disappeared.

The refurbishment will restore a segment of beach about the size of two city blocks where the public parking lot, recreational facilities and lifeguard headquarters are located.

“At first glance, it’s a very simple project,” said Department of Public Works Project Manager Sam Shadab. “But the devil is in the details.”

Dry sand will be hauled a half-mile or so into the eroded area from a 2,500-foot-long stretch of better-stocked beaches north of the breakwater. A convoy of massive earth-moving equipment will scoop two or three feet of surplus sand from the “borrow” area’s surface, then transport it in 10- or 20-cubic-yard loads to the eroded area.

Each borrow site, Shadab said, will be barricaded with safety fencing to protect the public from construction activity. Public access to the water will be limited during construction to small openings in the barricades every 150 feet or so.

Each load, Shadab said, will be spread over the new site to smooth the beach and cover the exposed stone facing in front of the lifeguard building. The project should take only six to eight weeks, he added – a good thing “because we have a very small window of time.”

Why the limitations? Shadab and Public Works Section Head Kamel Youssef chuckle as they tick off the complications engineers will face.

“Well, we cannot operate the equipment on nights or weekends,” explained Youssef, who is overseeing the project. “And we cannot have construction from May to September, because that is beach season.”

“Then,” Shadab added, “we have the roosting season of the Snowy Plover. And we have to avoid the running of those little fish that look like snakes – the grunion. And we have to be cognizant of the California Brown Pelican and the California Least Tern, and make sure they have not returned late in the season.”

And then there’s the human wildlife, Youssef added.

“Some of this equipment weighs 20 tons with a 20 cubic yard capacity and a cockpit 10 or 12 feet off the ground,” he noted. “The wheels are as big as a man. The operators cannot see everything like you can see in your vehicle. So we have to have an extensive and detailed security system, and pilot cars in front of the convoy so that people don’t get run over. Some people, as you know, sleep in the sand.”

Then there’s the 66-inch drainage pipe that movers will have to avoid crushing, a challenge engineers plan to meet with a temporary “bridge” of reinforced concrete. And yet, Youssef and Shadab said, the strategy is still cheaper and less complicated than hauling in inland sand that might have damaged roads in other municipalities, widened the project’s carbon footprint and threatened the beach’s ecosystem.

The project, Youssef said, should be completed in January – one last obstacle permitting.

“If we have a lot of storms and rain,” he noted, “the equipment might sink into the sand.”

Posted 10/12/10

Malibu’s worthiest of waves

It has starred in more than 75 movies. It is the namesake for one of California’s best known environmental groups. And its “original perfect wave” has made Malibu a Mecca for generations of surfers.

Now Surfrider Beach—the birthplace of modern surfing in California—will add yet another accolade to its long list of laurels: On Saturday, it will officially be dedicated as the nation’s first World Surfing Reserve.

“These special surf spots are the Yosemites of the coast,” said Dean LaTourrette, executive director of Save The Waves Coalition, a non-profit environmental organization based in Santa Cruz County that has spearheaded the international initiative to designate and preserve iconic surfing coastlines worldwide.

“People need to understand how valuable and fragile they are, and the World Surfing Reserve designation will help the international and local communities focus on protecting them.”

Although the World Surfing Reserves designation is purely honorary and will have no regulatory authority or impact, LaTourrette said the groups involved hope it will raise awareness. The designation, modeled after a successful Australian program that has singled out more than a half-dozen of that continent’s beaches, was inspired, he said, by UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, which help preserve locations of cultural significance.

The Malibu reserve, he said, will be the first in a series of World Surfing Reserves—“a UNESCO of surfing”—planned for pristine coastlines in Australia, Hawaii and other important surf destinations.

Surfrider Beach, formally known as Malibu Lagoon State Beach, lies near the Malibu Pier on the northern arm of Santa Monica Bay. Although it has been plagued over the years by crowds and water quality issues, its long, smooth-breaking waves are considered the “definitive California pointbreak,” according to “The Encyclopedia of Surfing” by former Surfer magazine editor Matt Warshaw.

Surfrider beat out more than 125 nominees for the inaugural designation, including Trestles, Mavericks, Waikiki, Manly Beach in Australia and breaks in Indonesia and Europe. The choice, LaTourrette said, was based in part on the long fight surfers have waged to help keep it clean.

Situated at the mouth of the Malibu Creek watershed and Malibu Lagoon, Surfrider’s history has been entwined with the environmental movement since the late 1960s, when runoff began fouling the lagoon with waste and sewage. In fact, the Surfrider Foundation, one of the state’s most dogged environmental groups, was founded as a response to Malibu’s environmental issues.

The World Surfing Reserve designation “is a statement by the global surfing community that Malibu is extremely important to surfing and should be protected,” said Chad Nelsen, the Surfrider Foundation’s environmental director.

“Of course, WSR do not have any legally binding protection, so the real value of the WSR will be demonstrated by local and global support for the protection of Malibu.”

In recent years, a number of public and private sector initiatives have been undertaken to reduce the pollution that has long plagued the waters of Surfrider—the most recent being Malibu’s newly opened Legacy Park.

Beneath the $38-million project is a network of pipes and filters designed to remove bacteria and contaminants from stormwater runoff in Malibu Lagoon, Malibu Creek and Surfrider. Among the governments donors was L.A. County, which contributed $700,000. Private donors included Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, Don Henley, Rob and Michele Reiner, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Family Foundation.

As part of the surfing reserve designation, a local stewardship council has been created to help coordinate and publicize Surfrider’s various preservation efforts. Members so far include such local surfing legends as Allen Sarlo, Andy Lyon and Steven Lippman, community leaders such as Michal Blum of the Malibu Surfing Association and Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner, the wave-riding mayor of Malibu.

“We’re the local ones who will keep an eye on it,” said Wagner, adding that the designation will be invaluable as a fundraising and advocacy tool.

“The social stigma of messing with a preserve may not be much to a lawyer, but, boy, to the general public, that’s a battle cry.”

The dedication on October 9 will begin with a sunrise ceremony on the beach and a blessing by local Chumash leader Mati Waiya, followed by a paddle-out, a formal dedication at 11 a.m. and an evening celebration at Duke’s Malibu.

California Coastal Commissioner Ross Mirkarimi said the commission has already adopted a resolution supporting the World Surfing Reserves program, which he said “will benefit not only surfers, but also the greater coastal community.”

Posted 10/07/10

Take a glide on the wild side

Unless you happen to be a bird, chances are you’ve never seen the Santa Monica Mountains quite like this.

An intrepid team has embarked on an aerial project to capture the mountains’ majesty in high-definition footage shot by a camera mounted on an XT-912 hang glider from Australia.

Eventually, the stunning aerials—recently edited into a soaring snippet posted on YouTube—will become a central visual attraction in a new visitors’ center to be built starting in December at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The footage also will be provided to the Sierra Club, woven into an episode of the Trailmasters series shown on cable and public television and, under a plan still being developed, may become part of a new National Parks display at LAX.

For now, though, it’s a work in progress, and, for the guys in the air, a thrill a minute.

Even a 5 mph breeze can buffet the low-flying 1,000-pound craft, which holds a pilot and a camera operator and not much else.

“It bounces you all around the place and it creates extreme turbulence. You could get blown right into the mountain,” says Jeff Messenger, a licensed pilot whose company, Hi Def From Above, focuses on specialized camera work.

Messenger, along with his partner and cameraman Roger Mason, has taken the craft up a number of times in recent weeks, flying for hours to squeeze out precious minutes of usable footage.

Why do it? “Passion—and my love for open space,” Messenger says. “Just to share it. I’ve never been so impressed with it as when I fly over it.”

Toby Keeler, a media specialist who produces the Trailmasters series, recently pulled together the 86-second rough cut, which offers a stimulating demonstration of what the final product will look like. (Be sure to adjust the picture to 720p to get the full HD experience.) Keeler’s efforts are being funded with grants from Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s office, the city of Calabasas and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund.

Then there are the other kinds of contributions—like the one from Keeler’s award-winning composer neighbor, Randy Miller, who allowed him to use his “Heartland Images” as a soundtrack for the 90-second rough cut.

“While I’m not an avid hiker per se, I know the value this park has. I know the uniqueness. People don’t realize this is the largest urban national park in America, and it’s right in our backyard,” Keeler says. “It’s a point of view that no one ever sees.”

That includes park aficionados like Woody Smeck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

“This is the first time that we’ve had this kind of aerial footage. It’s just a spectacular point of view. You literally fly through canyons,” Smeck says. “The image that I like the most is when he’s sweeping down along the coastline…It’s like coming down from heaven.”

Posted 9/21/10

An L.A. beachcomber heads south

Los Angeles County’s sandprint will soon be showing up on oily Gulf Coast beaches.

At the urgent request of BP, the county’s Department of Beaches & Harbors is finalizing a deal to send a BeachTech 2000 to Mississippi to help in the cleanup of the Gulf oil spill. The two-ton “sanitizer” ordinarily rakes and sifts cans, bottles and cigarette butts from county beaches near Redondo. Now it will see action sifting tar balls from barrier island beaches blackened by the giant oil disaster.

“We thought it was a great opportunity for the county to get involved and assist in the clean up,” said Ken Foreman, assistant chief of facilities and maintenance for Beaches & Harbors.

In exchange for the three-year-old unit, BP will buy the county a new replacement, valued at about $50,000. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Don Knabe at Tuesday’s meeting to seal the deal. The new unit should arrive next month.

The unusual trade came because BeachTech couldn’t supply the sanitizers quickly enough for BP, explained Scott Merrill, manager of BeachTech’s North American operations.

BeachTech’s models work particularly well because, unlike other beach groomers, their rakes can be removed and sand can be sifted exclusively through a screen, Merrill said. Raking breaks up the globules of oil, making cleanup more difficult.

Earlier this summer BP bought 25 BeachTech sanitizers after federal and state environmental officials determined that the equipment was effective. By late August, BP wanted 10 more, but BeachTech didn’t have the inventory to fill the whole order.

Widely criticized for not reacting to the disaster swiftly enough, BP did not want to wait and asked BeachTech to call its best customers for loaners in perfect working condition.

“They said, ‘We don’t want cash for clunkers’,” Merrill said.

Besides L.A. County, four municipalities (three in Florida and one in Alabama) also agreed to send equipment. Clean up crews are using the equipment mostly at night and in the cool early morning hours, when the oily gunk is coolest, hardest and easiest to handle.

L.A. County’s yellow unit will be loaded on a truck later this week, most likely bound for unpopulated barrier islands off the Mississippi coast, where the beach cleanup is just getting underway. Foreman said that until L.A.’s new unit arrives, beach-cleaning crews will use other equipment.

“We should be okay for the time being,” Foreman said. “We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to help.”

Posted 9-7-10

The big chill

It’s been a long cold summer.

Whether the record-setting chill of July and early August makes this L.A.’s best or worst summer depends a lot on where you live—and a little on what you value most in the season. While waiters in Venice have had to hand out blankets to rooftop lounge patrons, kids in Sylmar have been able to frolic in an unusually temperate county park.

Hotter weather is expected this weekend—finally—and there are a lot of potentially scorching days yet to be logged before the sun sets on the summer of 2010. But what’s happened so far is unusual enough that the National Weather Service was moved to put out a statement Wednesday headlined, “What has happened to summer in Southern California?”

(The answer, in short, is that an upper level offshore trough—the kind that usually shows up in the fall or winter—has decided to park itself off the West Coast for the last 2 1/2 months.)

The ensuing, and seemingly endless, June gloom has led to some stunning temperature readings.

The average temperature of 65.7 degrees at LAX tied the record for the coldest July on the books since statistics started being kept in 1944, the weather service said. (July of 2010 shares the distinction with 1948 and 1965.) The high of 65 degrees logged at the airport on July 8, the weather service noted, “would be below normal even for January!”

With the weather service using exclamation points to underscore the drama of the situation, it’s no surprise that the coastline chill has led to some national media attention.

At Venice’s Hotel Erwin, waiters have had to hand out blankets and crank up heaters at the High Rooftop Lounge.

Even with such amenities, business is off as fewer patrons brave the uncharacteristically cool elements to enjoy 360-degree views from the hotel, which overlooks Muscle Beach.

“I’ve worked at outdoor restaurants for 6 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Tiffany McClintock, a food and beverage manager at the High, as she calls it. “The weather has had a huge impact…We expect June gloom, but it’s August and usually we have summer by now.”

Although summer has been pretty much a bust for bronzing (which isn’t good for you anyway), it’s been a boon on the green side of things because power usage has dropped along with temperatures. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power says that, since July 1, customers have been using 5.2% less than the department had forecast.

That’s a lot fewer air conditioners being cranked up.

“In cooler weather, there’s reduced demand for power, and that’s what we’re seeing,” said Michael Cockayne, supervisor of load forecasting at DWP.

A really hot summer day will demand 5,500-5,700 megawatts, he says. On Wednesday afternoon, the peak load was at about 3,830 megawatts.

“That’s very low,” he said,

Cockayne warns that no one should get too complacent, however. Peak power use days typically begin in earnest about the middle of August. “It’s a pretty good chance that we’ll see more peak days between August 15 and September 15,” he said.

So far this summer, though, the cooler weather has meant a break for lifeguards at county beaches, who’ve performed 3,050 rescues since June 1—compared to 6,745 in the same period last year.

Overall beach attendance is down, too, to just over 13 million visits in July. That’s well below the 18.9 million visits last July, but above the month’s average of 12.4 since 2000.

The cool summer has also offered a break to the elderly.

One measure of that is the fact that cooling centers have had to be activated only once this summer, notes Ellie Wolfe, manager of internal services for the county’s Community and Senior Services Department.

“I’m loving it,” Wolfe said. “It’s been a much safer and saner summer—so far.”

Kids attending summer camp at the county’s El Cariso Park in Sylmar have been enjoying cooler-than-usual days for field trips and park activities. “It’s been a whole lot nicer than last summer,” said Sandra Chapman, the park’s recreation supervisor.

At the El Cariso pool, the usually sweltering deck has stayed cooler this summer, to the delight of sunbathers. “People seem to love it because the weather is, like, perfect,” said pool manager Mike Baham. As for the lifeguards, “none of ‘em got burned this year.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Meier, stationed in Oxnard, hears it from both sides of the hot and cold debate.

“I get mixed reviews,” she said. Her family, living on the Westside, tells her: “Our air conditioning bill has been fantastic.” But a friend visiting from Texas was not so enthusiastic, summing up her feelings with a simple: “California is cold!”

Posted 8/11/10

A new way to dam pollution

In a bid to improve water quality at a popular beach, Los Angeles County Public Works engineers will deploy an unusual weapon: a large, inflatable rubber dam.

The device, measuring 37 feet long and 4 feet high when inflated, will be used during the dry season in the Santa Monica Canyon storm drain to keep dirty water from flowing into the ocean at Will Rogers State Beach. The result, according to Bruce Hamamoto of the Department of Public Works: “There will be less bacteria at the beach.”

The rubber dam, scheduled to be installed in 2011, will replace an existing system that sends bacteria-laden water through sewers and into the City of Los Angeles’ Hyperion treatment plant near LAX, where harmful bacteria are removed. The new system will give water officials more flexibility to increase the amount of dirty water diverted to Hyperion.

Although rubber dams have been used by the county to help manage groundwater storage, this is the first use of a large dam along the coast to fight water pollution. (A small rubber dam was installed at the new Marie Canyon facility in Malibu last year.)

The rubber dam, essentially an inch-thick inner tube, allows officials to capture dirty water that would, on occasion, breach an existing 15-inch concrete dam, built in 2003. Now, when the water gets higher, the rubber dam can be inflated up to four feet high to divert more of the flow to Hyperion. Conversely, officials can deflate the rubber dam during storms to send water directly into the ocean and avoid flooding.

The $2 million dam, approved by the Board of Supervisors last month, represents the county’s portion of a joint project with the City of Los Angeles. The city will spend $6 million to double the size of the pipes that divert water through the sewers to Hyperion.

The dam project is part of a broader county effort to improve water quality at L.A.’s beaches by bringing pollution levels below those set by state environmental regulators.

More than 3 million gallons of water flow through the Santa Monica Canyon Channel on the average “dry season” day. Much of the water comes from the irrigation of lawns and gardens across a 10,000-acre swath of the Westside.

Post 6/23/10

Magnificent milestone in the mountains

Chalk up another win for the green team. After years of fending off development that could have overwhelmed its oak-studded slopes with condos, shopping centers or a massive megaplex, a spectacular swath of the Santa Monica Mountains can finally rest easy.

It’s now public land—to be preserved for posterity in its natural state.

The $6.25 million acquisition caps more than a decade of efforts by a coalition of government officials, environmentalists and activists seeking to preserve the nearly 200-acre property as an important wildlife corridor and plant habitat.

But the significance of the land—a rustic spread that once belonged to entertainment legend Bob Hope—goes well beyond its environmental value.

It also serves as an unofficial gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, visible to the 184,000 motorists who pass each day on the 101 Freeway as a symbol of the wilderness that still exists at the city’s edge.

“It’s just so special,” said Los Angeles real estate legend Fred Sands, who recently agreed to sell the property to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. “I’ve walked that property and I’ve hiked it. I’ve taken people there and their jaws dropped.”

Sands, who now is involved with commercial real estate ventures involving shopping centers and malls and also has a private equity firm, said he had considered building a horse ranch for his daughter on the property. He also mulled building a shopping center or keeping the land in a family trust and eventually constructing houses there.

He said the time he’d spent on the property changed his mind. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “The more I thought about it, the more I thought it shouldn’t be developed. This is just too beautiful.”

He said he’d considered hanging onto the property because it was worth more than he was being paid. But, he said, “I’m not exactly penniless. Not everything has to be about money…There’s a tax advantage. But I don’t need it for the tax advantages.”

“It’s about doing something for the public, and for the future.”

It is ironic but also fitting that the purchase of that scenic expanse is being bankrolled by, well, garbage. Specifically, the land was purchased, in part, with fees charged to hauling companies that use the Calabasas Landfill, along with money from a “gas-to-energy” program there.

Now that it belongs to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority—a partnership among the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy,  the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District—the agency will maintain the rustic site and open it up to the public starting Saturday, when the property is set to be dedicated.

Dash Stolarz, a spokeswoman for the MRCA, said that crews were busily clearing brush from a ranch road that runs through the property. Parking is—and will remain—on a dirt lot. “We’re not going to develop it in any way,” she said.

Melanie Beck, an outdoor recreation planner for the National Parks Service, whose land borders the property, said the property will form an important link in the Las Virgenes Creek Trail, which is part of a larger loop called the Calabasas Cold Creek Trail. “I think it’s one of the most important acquisitions that the agencies have taken on in the last few years,” Beck said, noting the “visual relief” it provides for motorists leaving the San Fernando Valley.

Sands bought the property after the previous owner, Robert Zuckerman, was thwarted in his plans to build condominiums and a massive retail center on the land, complete with a 3,600-seat movie theater complex. Zuckerman’s proposal drew the ire of environmentalists and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and eventually fell apart after the county rejected his building plans.

Yaroslavsky said that Zuckerman had taken him on a tour of the property when he was seeking approval to build. “That was the biggest mistake he could have made,” Yaroslavsky said. “My first look at the dozens of mature oak trees and the pristine nature of the property convinced me on the spot that the property should be part of the Santa Monica Mountains park system.”

He said that after Sands bought the property, he inquired whether Yaroslavsky’s office would support any zoning changes to allow development on the land beyond the small number of homes that would have been permitted under current zoning. The answer was no.

Several years ago, Yaroslavsky approached Sands about selling the property to the MRCA. The agreement came together in the last 60 days.

The property is known to some as Firehouse Hill, a nod to the nearby Los Angeles County Fire Station 125. Others call it “Continental Communities”—a reference to Zuckerman’s ill-fated development plans.

Whatever you call it, the property ranks as the most significant acquisition since the former King Gillette Ranch, which the MRCA opened to the public in 2007. Since Yaroslavsky took office in 1994, almost 23,000 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains have been acquired and set aside as open space.

“We’ve saved a lot of big pieces, but it’s like pieces of a mosaic,” said Dave Brown, a community activist who’s been prominent in the efforts to preserve open space in the mountains. “You have to make sure there won’t be people coming in with inappropriate development plans.”

On the newly-acquired Calabasas property, that’s no longer an issue—to the relief of those, like Brown, who have worried about what might end up on this piece of land that exerts such a strong pull on those who’ve seen it.

“I’ve discovered over many years of living here that many people are emotionally attached to this property,” said Brown, who also is an appointee to the advisory committee of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “It tells people that they’re in a new area—an unspoiled natural area.”

Watch our video, “Santa Monica Mountains: An Island of Nature,” and read Zev’s blog about the remarkable strides that have taken place to preserve open space in the mountains.

Posted 6/9/2010

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