BEACH LAND BUY DRAWS FIRE MALIBU CONSERVATION EFFORT COSTS TOO MUCH, CRITICS SAY.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

VENTURA - Over objections of the State Lands Commission and homeowners, the California Coastal Conservancy voted Thursday to spend $10 million on 1,127 feet of Malibu beachfront property for public use.

While conservation groups cheered the decision, critics claimed the conservancy will pay too much for property in an effort to bail out a failed development there.

``We can't accept a transaction in our back yard that we have no say in, especially one in which the taxpayers are being forced to ridiculously overpay,'' said Robert Philibosian, an attorney for the Malibu-Encinal Homeowners Association.

The group plans to pursue a lawsuit it filed Wednesday that would delay the sale of the Lechuza Beach properties. The group says the sale amounts to a taxpayer bailout of a housing development that was never built.

The land in question - purchased for $2 million in 1990 by developer Norman R. Haynie - has since been ruled unsuitable for development by the State Lands Commission.

An attorney for Haynie's development company denied the claims and said the property owners made a decision to cede the land for public use.

``Between my client, the Coastal Conservancy and the Lands Commission, there is a common goal of preserving the beach,'' said attorney Sherman Stacey. ``Considering that a 30-foot-wide lot nearby sold for $1.5 million in 1997, this is a bargain.''

The Coastal Conservancy, a state agency established in 1974, uses tax dollars and private contributions to purchase, protect and restore coastal resources.

Conservancy staff members said that an independent appraisal of the 1.5 acres - made up of 21 shoreline lots and three inland parcels - set a fair market price of $10 million.

Opponents say the appraisal has never been made public and that a report requested by the State Lands Commission sets the value closer to $2.5 million.

``I am satisfied that we have met the legal standard with regard to the appraisal,'' conservancy board member Patrick Wright said Thursday during its meeting in Ventura. ``We have made a decision that purchasing this property was worth it compared to other priorities.''

A representative of the land commission said public access to the beach is not guaranteed and the price was too high.

``We are not sure if this is appropriate because our review shows that the property rights purchased are not sufficient with regard to access,'' said Paul Thayer, a board member.