Soka University Rejects Offer of Alternative Sites

Soka University officials have rejected two sites offered by state and federal parks agencies as alternatives to their Calabasas property, saying the pieces of land are too small for their proposed 5,000-student college.

“They have offered us nothing that even comes close to what we’ve got,” university spokeswoman Bernetta Reade said Friday.

Parks authorities, who want the secluded, 580-acre Calabasas property for the headquarters of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, hope to entice the Tokyo-based school to relocate by helping them arrange a land deal elsewhere. Those authorities said the two rejected sites--the Northrop Corp. in Newbury Park and a Christian camp near Lake Arrowhead--could work if the university was not determined on expanding.