A FAIRWAY RUNS THROUGH IT\Battle for land at golf course pits homeowners against park district.

Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer

The park district is considering selling public land to some of the residents whose back yards were illegally extended onto the Simi Hills Golf Course, officials said Monday.

In other cases, however, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District will demand that homeowners vacate park property deemed essential for public use - after the homeowners have been given sufficient time to remove fences.

District board member Jim Meredith said the proposed solution attempts to address the concerns of the affected homeowners without compromising the district's responsibilities.

"I think it's the fairest position we could come up with," he said. "The other would just be us telling them, 'Hey, get off the property.' I think this is the fairest solution."

But some property owners who stand to lose thousands of dollars if they choose to keep the land are challenging the district's proposals.

They say the disputed land came with their properties when they bought them and they maintained the land for years. Now they wonder why they should face losing up to a third of their back yards to give back land that is of little use to the golf course.

"They knew about this 10 years ago. Why didn't they straighten this out before I bought my house?" said Texas Avenue homeowner Louis Sanchez. "Now the residents will suffer. They got to pay for it."

The controversy began after the park district discovered that 43 out of 71 lots on Texas Avenue were encroaching onto the 155-acre golf course at 5031 Alamo St.

The district's decision to take back the encroached land was criticized heavily by many of the affected homeowners, who said they never were made aware of such a problem when they bought their homes.

Some also questioned the district's motive, saying much of the property is of little use to the district and consists mainly of slopes or land beyond the reach of the actual golf course.

But district officials have said that the land is public property, and that it would set a bad precedent if the district allowed some of it to fall into private hands.

In a report that will be discussed by board members following a 6:30 p.m. public hearing Thursday at Rancho Santa Susana Community Center, 5005-C Los Angeles Ave., the staff has recommended a set of solutions.

One calls for encroachment into park property used for access for vehicular traffic to the rear portions of homes to be terminated within 30 days following approval by the board and the giving of a notice to property owners.

The staff also recommends that encroachments on flat land deemed necessary for public use must be retained for the use of the golf course and Simi Hills Neighborhood Park. Affected homeowners would have to vacate the encroached areas within one year, or they may enter into an agreement that they will vacate the property when they sell their homes or by Jan. 1, 1999, whichever comes first.

In cases where encroachments are not deemed harmful for the purpose of public use of land - such as limited accessibility - the homeowners would be offered a one-year option to buy the land for $3 a square foot.

Homeowners also would have to pay all costs associated with the transfer, including civil engineering, surveyor's, appraiser's, escrow and recording fees, as well as title company charges.

Such action would occur only after the board votes to determine such property to be surplus land, however, which means it would be of little or no value to the golf course except as a buffer between the golf course and adjacent homes.

For Sanchez, the Texas Avenue resident whose encroachment totals 2,625 square feet, the cost would be $7,875, money the retired computer technician said would not be easy to find.

"They want to sell you this property at the going rate for normal usable land and that's not right because it's useless land," he said. "What can they do with a wedge of land? They're trying to charge us the same amount that a person would buy to build a house on."

For Chuck Chavoor, who stands to lose 1,875 square feet that would cost him $5,625 to keep, the possibility of losing a major portion of his back yard is troubling.

"Are they in the people business or are they bureaucrats who say, 'We want the land back at any cost,' " said Chavoor, who would like to park district to approve a easement that would allow him to keep the land at no cost. "We need a people solution."

Homeowner Fred Haptonstal said he had maintained the parkland for eight years.

"Are they going to compensate us for the maintenance of that land?" he said.

District board member Gene Hostetler said he thinks the staff came up with justifiable solutions, but added that he is looking forward to hearing alternatives from residents during the public hearing.

"Maybe some of the public that is affected can give us another solution," he said. "I'm open to hear other options because the whole park district is for the community, and you have to work with the community. You can't just say this is what we're going to do and not take any input. But it sounds all right."

Meanwhile, a meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. today at Simi Valley Presbyterian Church, 4832 Cochran St., to give affected residents a chance to review the district's proposal before Thursday's board meeting.

Organizer Gary Moss, who has been ordered to vacate 1,500 square feet of district property belonging to Santa Susana Park, said residents are up in arms about facing the possibility of losing land they thought was theirs when they bought their homes.

"There's passion behind this land. We're not people that stole this land, we inherited this land," he said. "This is a very unique situation."

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Photo (Color in Simi edition only) Louis Sanchez's back yard has been extended onto park district land. Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News