Land trust buys Gaviota property

5/18/01

By MELINDA BURNS 
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

A national land trust announced Thursday that it had signed an agreement to buy 2,500 acres of the scenic El Capitan Ranch on the Gaviota coast as a future addition to the adjacent state beach or national forest.

The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation group, said the property would be purchased for less than $10 million from Chuck Blitz and Roger Himovitz, two local investors who purchased the 3,200-acre ranch from Texaco just five months ago. All parties are awaiting an appraisal to wrap up the deal.

"We see it as the last undeveloped coastline in Southern California and a real opportunity to protect a national treasure," said Mary Menees, a spokeswoman for the trust. "There's so much development pressure right now that we're definitely putting our efforts into protecting it. Once it's gone, it's gone."

The ranch lies on the north side of Highway 101, directly north of El Capitan State Beach, and extends to the southern boundary of the Los Padres National Forest. The trust hopes to resell its 2,500 acres to the state or federal government next year. Thus, the public may gain a new trail from the beach to the forest, Menees said.

"It is really exceptional to have that connection going from the beach through oak woodlands, coastal sage shrub and mountain streams to the uplands overlooking the Gaviota Coast," Menees said.

State Sen. Jack O'Connell, D-San Luis Obispo, and Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, have requested that $6.5 million in Proposition 12 park bonds, approved last year by voters, be used to help pay for the El Capitan property. On Thursday, a state Senate subcommittee endorsed this request.

"I'm very, very pleased that they included that," O'Connell said. "If we could get this, it would be a huge amount for us. This is an area I've been committed to providing protection and access to the community for, for a number of years."

Back in 1970, a developer's plans for 1,500 homes on the El Capitan Ranch were overturned in a countywide referendum. In 1976, the state considered buying the ranch, but backed out because the $2.5 million asking price was considered too high.

The entire Gaviota Coast from Coal Oil Point to Point Sal is now under study by the National Park Service for potential conservation as a national seashore.

Himovitz declined to comment Thursday on the sale agreement with the Trust for Public Land; Blitz did not return a reporter's calls. Earlier this year, Blitz said he planned to donate about 1,250 acres to the trust, including the land for a connecting trail to the forest, and sell the nonprofit another 1,250 acres. Blitz said he hoped to divide the remaining 650 acres into as many as six lots for homes.

Blitz is now renovating a large private campground on the property for an upscale clientele. Last month, the county issued a stop-work order, saying that a number of the new tent platforms were too close to the creek. The platforms were moved, permits have been issued and construction has begun again, county officials said Thursday. The 300-space campground will reopen for Memorial Day weekend.

The El Capitan purchase agreement with the trust is the first for the nonprofit group on the Gaviota Coast. The organization employs one person full-time to negotiate with property owners on the coast for the potential conservation of land.

In 1997, bolstered with large community donations, the trust purchased the Douglas Family Preserve, formerly the Wilcox property, on the bluffs above Arroyo Burro Beach. The land was then donated to the city of Santa Barbara.