More than 60 residents met Tuesday night to discuss a problem that many had faced before: How to keep Las Pulgas Canyon from being developed? For the first time in more than a decade, neighbors of the 33-acre canyon have reactivated Save Las Pulgas Canyon, Inc., a nonprofit formed 18 years ago to fight development there. ‘Tonight is the beginning of starting an overwhelming force that will save the canyon,’ said Lloyd Ahern, a past and current leader of SLPC. The coastal canyon sits east of Sunset Boulevard and west of Temescal. For the first time since Barry Maiten bought property in 1996, it risks changing hands. And the uncertainty of the next owner’s intentions has propelled the canyon’s neighbors and local conservationists to action. ‘Monitor activity in the canyon,’ Mary Rapoport exhorted fellow canyon residents. ‘If you hear a chainsaw or see bulldozers going in, record it. I think there’s enough [reason] to get people mobilized right now. Our experience is that it’s not just going to affect people on the rim. Every one of us who lives in this community has a stake that this canyon be preserved to protect wildlife.’ Sotheby’s realtor Rodrigo Iglesias, who is selling the property, says that he is not trying to sell the property to a developer, but rather to someone hoping to build a single-family estate. The prospect of a single-family home in the canyon is not what worries Las Pulgas neighbors, who live on adjacent streets Grenola, Marquette, Bienveneda, Muskingum and Puerto del Mar. ‘I wouldn’t mind if a person bought it to have a home their with pastures and a meadow,’ said Chuck Rapoport. ‘My concern is development.’ The canyon’s history of near-development leaves neighbors wary. In 1989, then-owner Neil Senturia planned to build 45 single-family homes in the canyon. Previous plans called for building as many as 125 homes there. The nonprofit’s biggest ally may be nature itself. The canyon has a history of geological instability. In the early 1990s, geologists and property assessors cited its flood-prone creek, inadequate drainage and water runoff, unstable soil and landslide-prone hillsides as evidence of a practically un-developable canyon. In fact, in the mid-1990s, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s Executive Director Joe Edmiston passed on purchasing the property at any price because of the canyon’s hazardous liability. For now, the nonprofit, which has already hired an environmental lawyer, has a modest goal: to make sure the next owner follows the law. ‘We know they have property rights,’ Ahern said. ‘But it’s our job to make sure they go through all the proper channels. My fear is that someone buys the canyon and in a sleight-of-hand–maybe in the city’he gets away with something he shouldn’t.’ Added Doug Green: ‘If Save Las Pulgas is diligent to make sure [the next owner] follows the rules, I don’t think there can be development. If they do it right, development won’t be economical.’ But some members at Tuesday night’s meeting want the nonprofit to be more proactive. They want the canyon to be made into a park. ‘We need a better alternative than just saying we’re going to limit the property owner’s rights,’ said one man, who lives on Marquette. ‘Everyone shirks the liability. If someone buys it, it’s their right to develop it. The conservancy has to buy this. Joe Edmiston got scared 18 years ago because of liability. But it doesn’t mean he’d do the same today.’ Ahern said, ‘The long-term goal is to make this public property.’ —- To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.