The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 853

VC SUNDAY. AI'KII. 22. 1W B21 I i imi LOS ANGELES COUNTY CHESS PARK: Critics Blame 'Upzoning' for Spiraling Land Prices The plans control the number of homes or other developments that may be put on tracts of land. However, the limits can be relaxed for specific parcels, in response to requests from developers who present data to show that their proposals will not overburden roads, sewer systems and schools.

Those requests, which are routine in all parts of the county, are, when granted for land in the Santa Monica Mountains, harmful to efforts to acquire parkland, congressmen and park advocates say. Critics stressed that they are not advocating "downzoning" of mountain tracts and that they merely want to hold the line at current building entitlements. They say upzoning complicates the daunting task of creating a national park at a time of tight federal budgets, and in a place where land prices already are 'We are living in a free country. We have no authority to freeze land values bought by developers from Boh Hope. Two hundred eighteen acres of the site near Malibu Creek State Park were to be deeded to a parks agency to be preserved as open space under an approval granted by the Regional Planning Commission several years ago.

But the Currey-Riach developers appealed to the Board of Supervisors and persuaded it to let the 218 acres remain as privately owned open space. At a hearing in 1983, Antonovich, who represents the area, stunned environmentalists with his defense of that decision. He said he was concerned that a parks agency might sell rather than preserve the land. Then, last August, the developers told the county that they wanted to adjust their building plans in a way that would encroach on the open space. The supervisors went along, but told the developers they did not want the amount of open space significantly reduced.

Environmentalists once again pleaded to have the open space given to the conservancy or the National Park Service. The supervisors once again refused, with Antonovich warning that the open space was not secure if in the hands of public parks agencies. From 1985-89, Currey-Riach its officials and affiliated firms donated $45,805 to campaigns of the supervisors, according to a review of campaign reports. More than half that amount $24,305 went to Antonovich. Dana got $11,000 and Pete Schabarum $9,500.

Vannatta, the Antonovich aide, said the contributions weren't a factor in the Currey-Riach case. Open space will not be lost, he said. It was just that the developer "was particularly unwilling to turn it over" to the public. To the north of Currey-Riach, the Park Service in 1985 paid $8 million to acquire lower Cheese-boro Canyon in Agoura, whose lovely hills and oak savannas have become a favorite of hikers, equestrians and bird-watchers. But it turned out that Los Angeles County had an easement across the land, which would allow it to bulldoze an extension of Thousand Oaks Boulevard through the heart of the canyon.

Conservationists and parks officials since have asked the county to abandon the easement, but to no avail. Vannatta explained: "We have not said for sure that we are going to stick with that alignment" for the road. But "our public works department feels that it is clearly the best route for a new highway." Properties, spurned the offer as ridiculously low. The decision by the supervisors brought a firestorm of criticism, with opponents saying the scenic canyon, with its year-round stream, should not be merely a playground for the rich. And three lawsuits were filed in an attempt to void the decision, because it allowed massive grading of streamside habitat area designated for special protection in the Malibu coastal plan.

The decision was rendered moot last week, when the owner of the land, entertainer Bob Hope, suddenly scrapped plans for the golf course and country club and agreed to donate 200 acres, including the habitat area, to the Santa Monicas park. Had the deal with Hope not been struck, however, a controversial land-use decision would have benefited political contributors. According to campaign records, individuals and firms involved in the Sun Pacific project contributed $40,845 to the supervisors over five years more than three-fourths of that to Dana and Antonovich. About half the money was contributed in 1989, when the project was approved. In March, 1989, alone, Dana received 22 separate contributions totaling $9,900 from those associated with the development.

He got $500 each from Sidney McClue, A. Bruce Robbs and C.B. Robbs, and $1,000 from A. Bruce Robbs, Jr. officials with Sun Pacific.

He also got $500 from the project's environmental consultants, Planning Consultants Research: $1,000 from the project architects, Corbin, Yamafuji, Partners: $1,000 from project engineers, Psomas and Associates; and $1,000 from the geotechnical engineers, Schaefer Dixon Associates. Six of these contributions came on the same day, March 20. Then on March 22, Dana received 14 separate contributions of $100 to $1,000 apiece from attorneys with Latham Watkins, a big law firm that works for Sun Pacific and many other developers. Dana said the contributions played no role in the decision. He called the golf course an "excellent use of the land." In an interview before the announcement of the gift from Hope, Dana described the project as "very beautiful" and "ecologically sound." Another battle arose over the Currey-Riach project, which involves 1,000 condominiums and a commercial complex on land ifilp I SUPERVISOR among the nation's highest.

Because of upzoning, they said, acquisition funds don't buy much and developers reject lucrative offers, based on current appraisals, because they expect the land to become more valuable if they seek easy-to-get upzoning. As a rule, parks agencies can only buy land at appraised values. Some conservationists see upzoning as a kind of "inverse condemnation," which causes blight and crowding to intrude on adjacent public preserves, thus denying taxpaying visitors full use and enjoyment of what their tax dollars have bought. But the main effect is to inflate land prices. And critics say it is being felt not only by the Park Service but also by the Santa Monica Mountains' Conservancy, a state parks agency that is a key player in development of the park.

"It used to be that the limiting factor was that we didn't have any money," said Joseph T. Edmiston, the conservancy's executive director. "Now the limiting factor is the absence of willing sellers and we're not talking about willing sellers at less than market value." Landowners are so confident they can get upzoning that they, in effect, "laugh at" conservancy appraisals, Edmiston said. "There is such a history of upzoning," he said "that one would be a fool from just a pure business standpoint" not to assume he can get approval for more development from the county. But Vannatta, Antonovich's planning aide, said critics have exaggerated the amount of upzoning that has actually taken place.

He said an analysis by county planners showed that since 1981, only about 450 more homes have been approved in the mountains within Antonovich's district than envisioned by the area plan. Supervisors have done "a pretty credible job of sticking to" the plan, Vannatta said. David Brown, chairman of the Sierra Club's Santa Monica Mountains Task Force and vice president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, questioned Vannatta's estimate, saying his own analysis shows about 1,000 more units have been approved than provided in the area plan. Edmiston contended that the actual number doesn't matter as much as the effect of upzoning on developers' expectations. Notwithstanding the complaints By JACK PETERS INTERNATIONAL MASTER April 22, 1990 Position "5059: Black to play and win From the game D.

Gurevich Mortensen. Summit Match, Reykavik 1990. Solution to Position 5058: The piece al hi should be a White King I apologize for the error White wins by 1 NfbI gxf5 2 Rg3 Kf8 3 Qx(5 Qf4 4 Qg6 Ra7 5 Rh3" Rxh3 6 Qg8 Ke7 7'dG Bxd6 8 Qf 7 Kd8 9 Rxd6 Rd7 10 Qxd7 mate II 1 Kf8, then 2 Ne3 Bxe3 3 Qxg6 wins INTERNATIONAL NEWS Alexander Khalifman scored 7-2 to win the $20,000 first prize in the International section of the 1990 New York Open. The little-known 24-year-otd International Master from the Soviet Union defeated GM Ferdinand Hellers of Sweden in the final round Tuesday to edge past his countrymen IM Vladimir Epishin and IM Leonid Yudasin, GM Helgi Olafs-son of Iceland, and 15-year-old Gata Kamsky of Brooklyn, who tied for second place at There were 33 GM's and 21 IM's in the field of 63 players. Next at 6-3 were GM Joel Benjamin of New York, GM Smbat Lputian of the Soviet Union and IM Patrick Wolff of Massachusetts.

Hellers, IM Alexander Wojtkiewicz of Poland, IM Alexander Machulsky and GM's Jan Ehlvest, Yefim Geller, Konstantin Lerner, Mikhail Tal, and Rafael Vaganian of the Soviet Union, IM Igor Ivanov of San Pedro, GM Maxim Dlugy of New Jersey and GM Yasser Seirawan of Seattle all finished with 5V5-3V5. Khalifman achieved his fourth grandmaster norm, which should assure him of receiving the grandmaster title at the World Chess Federation meeting later this year. Epishin, Kamsky, Wolff and Yudasin also made GM norms. Kamsky, who defected from the Soviet Union after the 1989 New York Open, registered another impressive performance against tough competition. One of his victims was former world champion Tal.

LOCAL NEWS Randy Hough, president of the Southern California Chess Federation, is the new champion of the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club. Hough scored 7V2-V2, including a last-round victory Monday over second-rated Ron Frasco, to take first prize in the 73-player club championship. Steve Hughes was second with 7-1. The club, which meets Monday and Friday evenings in the Senior Citizens Recreation Center, 1450 Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica, will conduct its annual meeting April 23 at 8 p.m.

All members are invited. The San Bernardino County Open will be held April 28-29 in the Upland Community Center, 352 East St. in Upland. It's a five-round tournament, and two top scorers qualify for the playoff for the state championship. Call Samuel Jurado at (714) 988-3578, after 6 p.m., for TODAY'S GAMES GM Arnason (Iceland) GM Browne (U.S.A.), Summit Match, Reykjavik 1990: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f4 An attacking system against the Nadorf Sicilian e5 7 Nf3 Nbd7 8 a4 A new move For years.

Black has tried 8 Qc7 and 8 Be 9 fxe5 Black gets compensation from 9 exd5 e4 10 Ngb Bb4 Nxe4 10 Nxd5 Bc5 11 Hoping for the greedy 11 12 Qe2 Nxhl 13 Bg5 The safer 1 1 Be3 lets Black recover the gambit pawn with either 1 1 Bxe3 12 Nxo3 Qb6 13 Qd4 Qxd4 14 Nxd4 Nxe5 or 1 1 Nxeb 12 Nxe5 Bxe3 13 Nxe3 Qa5 14 c3 Qxe5 0-0 12 Qe2 Bf2 13 Kfl Ndc5 14 Be3 Just trying to develop If White attempts to grab material by 14 b4, then 14 Be6i 15 bxcb Bxd5 favors Black A plausible variation, not forced, is 16 Bd3 17 exf6 Qx(6 18 Ra3 Rae8' (White refutes 18 19 Bxe4 Bxe4 by 20 Qc4i Kh8 21 Qxcb) 19 Bxe4 Rxe4 20 Qx(2 Bc4 2 1 Kg 1 Re2 22 Qg3 Rxc2 23 Bg5 Qb2 24 Re3 Rc 1 2b Rel Qd4l 26 Nxd4 RM 27 RxM Rxf 1 mate Bxe3 15 Qxe3 Bf5 Because of White's misplaced King. Black has plenty for the pawn 16 Rd1 Kh8 1 7 Rd4 Interesting. White gets nothing from 1 Nc3 Qab or 1 b4 Nxa4 18 Nc3 Qc7 b5 18 Ba2 bxa4 Stopping b2 b4 1 9 Nc3 Qb8 20 Nxe4 8xe4 21 Rxe4 Nxe4 22 Qxe4 Qxb2 23 Qxa4 Black's counterattack grows in strength as White's most active pieces are traded Neither 23 Ngb" Qcl 24 Kf2 Qxgb nor 23 Bd5 Rac8 24 c4 a3 helps Qa1 24 Ne1 QxeS Material is nearly oven, and White still cannot use his Rook 25 Kf2 Rae8 26 Nf3 Qc5 27 Kg3 Re2 28 Rfl Qxc2 Heading for a winning end-gnmo The middlegnme solution 28 f5' appears even quicker 29 Bb3 f4 30 Kh3 Qtb 3 1 g4 fxg3 32 Kxg3 Qg6 33 Qg4 Rg2 29 Qxc2 Rxc2 30 Ra1 Rc5 31 Kf4 g6 More deadly is 31 Ra5 32 Bb3 Rb8 33 Nd4 Rb4 34 Ke4 Rc7 35 Ra5 Or Rxa6 Re 36 Kd3 Rd Kg7 36 g4 Re7 37 Kd3 Rd7 38 Bd5 Rb2 39 h4 Rh2 40 h57 Time pressure? White can hang on with 40 Nf3 Rh3 4 1 Ke3 gxh-5 41 gxh5 Rxh5 42 Kc4 Rd6 43 Nc67! Rxc6 44 Bxc6 Rxa5, White Resigns. PROPERTY AUCTIONS Investors, builders 17.2600 sq. It.

tix up lot. Please come and bid $15,000 cash or cashier check required. Auction May 20th 1 p.m. 23539 Burbank Woodland Hills. CA 91367 213657-5647 FAX MACHINES I RICOH 200 Refurbished Commercial Model Aulo Cut 30 Page Doc Feed Greyscale and More 5 abcdefgh $495.1 Retail $2995 Limited Quantity 1-800-237-9451 (714) 795-2468 of Beilenson and others, the supervisors are on record in support of the Santa Monicas park.

In May, 1988, they passed a resolution asking Congress for generous appropriations so scenic tracts would not "be lost to development." A few months later, they were reminded of this stand as they considered a controversial request to upzone the former Renaissance Pleasure Faire site in Agoura for a luxury home development, known as Paramount Ranch. The National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy had long coveted the 320-acre site as an addition to the national recreation area. With that in mind, park supporters urged supervisors to approve no more than 103 homes the maximum number for which the tract was zoned, which would keep the property more affordable for park acquisition. DEANE DANA Beilenson and Wilson, among others, warned the supervisors that they would be sending the wrong message to Congress if they upzoned the property while the government was seeking to buy it. But in March, 1989, the supervisors approved development of 150 homes by a 3-1 vote, with only Supervisor Ed Edelman voting no.

The decision increased the value of the land by millions of dollars. The National Park Service and conservancy had pooled their funds and were prepared to pay $14 million the amount they anticipated the land would be worth if a tract of 103 homes were approved. With approval of 150 homes, the appraised value of the land rose to $19 million, although the developers also rejected an offer for that amount. Brian Heller, a principal in the project, had said the development would be uneconomical if he were allowed to build only 103 homes. The supervisors said they also were persuaded by the developers that the 103-unit limit was wrong in the first place because it had assumed steeper slopes than were actually on the property.

Several individuals and firms involved in the project were longtime supporters of the supervisors, and particularly of Antonovich, the area's representative. From 1985-89, they contributed $36,995 to the supervisors of which $29,495, or more than three-fourths, went to Antonovich. The $36,995 included $20,600 from the Engineering Technology, Inc. of Sherman Oaks, consultants who represented the developers before the Board of Supervisors. An additional $15,395 came from Art Whizin, Heller Construction and Raiten Development, all principals in the project.

Vannatta said these contributions had "zippo influence" on Antonovich. He pointed out that before the case reached the supervisors, the Regional Planning Commission had decided to let the developers build 159 houses. The supervisors actually reduced that to 150 at Antonovich's insistence, Vannatta said. In another recent case, the supervisors in December approved a development in Corral Canyon in Malibu that was to include a golf course, country club and housing development. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy had tried to buy the land for about $8 million, but the developers, Sun Pacific STATE LIC.

377 10 Buyers Premium Continued from B8 (R-California) said in a letter to the supervisors more than a year ago. One such member is Rep. Ralph Regula of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee's interior subcommittee, which budgets money for park acquisition. Upzoning is "driving up the cost of acquisition," Regula said. "If the county would like to have a national park they've got to cooperate a little bit." Rep.

Chester Atkins also on the panel, said members are concerned "that we're getting maximum value for our money that we're not in a situation where things are happening with zoning which are artificially inflating the value of the land and increasing the burden on the taxpayer." The situation has infuriated Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), sponsor of the legislation that created the national recreation area in 1978. "I cannot understand why, when there's such strong regional support for the national park, and when the need for more public open space in the Los Angeles area is so obvious to everyone else, that the Board of Supervisors repeatedly makes decisions that allow the destruction of what little open space is left," Beilenson said in a recent interview. "I think people would be enraged if they understood that this same supervisor that they cast their vote for is also someone who's making it virtually impossible for the public to acquire parkland at a reasonable price, in order that some already wealthy developer can make additional millions building enormously high-priced houses, available only to millionaires, in areas where we shouldn't be building houses at all," Beilenson said.

But supervisors and their aides said that such attacks are unfair and that they are on record as supporting the park. And although some beneficiaries of upzoning have been campaign contributors, they said their decisions had nothing to do with rewarding supporters. "The property owners do have rights," Dana said. "I would imagine we would be open for lawsuits if we restricted people's rights." Dave Vannatta, planning deputy for Supervisor Mike Anto-novich, whose district includes the oak-robed hills and valleys of Ag-oura within the recreation area, said, "Mike is in support of the creation of the park." "What is the county to do?" Vannatta asked. "Is the county to unreasonably withhold development?" Extending over 155,000 acres from Griffith Park in Los Angeles to Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is actually a mosaic of private lands and public preserves, owned by local, state and federal parks agencies.

The National Park Service eventually is to own 37,910 acres in the area, but due to budget constraints it has acquired only 16,450 acres during the past 10 years. Moreover, purchases to date have cost the federal government $118 million or three-fourths of the ceiling of $155 million in the legislation that created the recreation area. Congress eventually must raise the limit if acquisition is to continue. The controversy involves approvals of more intensive development than provided in the Malibu-Santa Monica Mountains Area Plan, adopted in 1981 as part of the county General Plan, and in the land-use element of the Malibu local coastal program. LAST CHANCE! Tj DAY LEFT.

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