State Interested in Developer’s Land

GLENDALE — A state parklands agency has expressed interest in buying--or at least helping to buy--238 acres of mountainside property that a developer wants to subdivide into the largest hillside housing tract ever erected here.

By a unanimous vote Monday night, the governing board of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy added the Oakmont View property in north Glendale to its already crowded list for acquisitions in the undeveloped lands ringing the north San Fernando Valley.

About a dozen “high priority” projects are vying for a scant $1.5 million in Proposition A funds the conservancy has earmarked for the area, said Paul Edelman, conservancy deputy chief.

But this figure pales compared with the $46-million appraisal cited by the Oakmont landowner, Gregg Development Inc.

“I heard [of the conservancy’s interest], but I took it the same way as if someone across the street said he wanted to buy [the land],” Gregg Development Vice President Lee Gregg said. “It’s my understanding that they have a long list of projects, without any funding for them, either.”

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy since its creation in 1980, conceded that Gregg’s price “would strain Midas” but added that several tracts purchased by the conservancy initially were priced far beyond the agency’s means. Several funding sources, both public and private, along with a willing seller, can prove pivotal, he said.

Conservancy board member Richard P. Sybert agreed, saying tight government budgets are making “package acquisitions a wave of the future,” whereby governments at all levels team with private groups to secure lands for the public domain.

Gregg, whose 570-home proposal has yet to come before the Glendale City Council, said he would consider “serious” purchase offers, but added, “Our desire is to produce quality owner-occupied housing. That’s what our family has done in Glendale for 60 years.”

In addition to Oakmont and two other nearby properties, the conservancy added to its purchase list the Polygon II tract, a proposed 35-home development on 28.8 hillside acres in north Glendale that the City Council is expected to vote on July 1.

If the council denies the project--as recommended by the Glendale Planning Commission--the developer will renew its suit against the city, company attorney Lance Adair told a judge Tuesday.