DEAL PROPOSED ON SOKA SUIT\Plan restricts mountain campus.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

A proposal announced Wednesday would resolve the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy's acrimonious condemnation lawsuit against Soka University by limiting the number of students and buildings allowed on the campus and setting aside at least 375 acres of open space.

The proposal was developed during talks that started last summer between Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Rep. Anthony Beilenson, D-Woodland Hills, and Soka officials, Yaroslavsky said.

Although it's not an official settlement agreement, Yaroslavsky hailed the resolution as a means to an end of a years-long controversy over the land at Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway.

"I didn't feel that the Conservancy was ever going to be in a position to buy this property and we were going down a road that if the parties weren't brought together, the Conservancy would be bankrupt and the mission for which it was created would be fundamentally destroyed," Yaroslavsky said.

The proposal calls for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, a joint-powers agency with the Conservancy, to drop the condemnation lawsuit it filed against the university in 1992 to force Soka to sell 245 of its 660 rustic acres. The suit sought to dedicate the Santa Monica Mountains land to public use.

Under the proposal, no building would be allowed to exceed 35 feet in height, and the university cannot apply for new expansions for 25 years after the Coastal Commission issues its permit.

Conservancy officials have said the agency would be hard-pressed to come up with the $19 million needed to purchase the property if a jury issued a condemnation award. The agency has spent approximately $1.5 million in legal fees on the case.

Soka spokesman Jeff Ourvan said the university would not comment on the framework until the MRCA and Conservancy boards agreed to the proposal and began talks to drop the condemnation lawsuit.

Included in the proposed framework are:

A maximum of 650 students on campus, including 500 residents and 150 commuters. There are now about 200 students;

A maximum of 440,000 square feet of building on campus;

Dedication of 375 acres of parkland to the MRCA;

Establishment of several conservation easements in perpetuity, to preserve additional open space near the public parkland; and;

Public access granted to open-space areas.

The agreement offers substantially fewer students and less square footage than earlier proposals. The university's draft environmental impact report proposes an expansion to 3,400 students and 1.5 million square feet of building space.

A failed November 1994 agreement included 2,500 students and 1.2 million square feet of buildings.

At the urging of Yaroslavsky and Beilenson, the Conservancy has rescheduled its regular board meeting to March 25 so the MRCA and Conservancy boards, along with the public, can consider the proposal.

If the MRCA and Conservancy approve the proposal, details of a settlement will be drafted, said Conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston.

"Now that it is offered it's irresponsible to continue the condemnation," Edmiston said.

Any project at the campus still must receive the approval of Los Angeles county supervisors and the state Coastal Commission.

The proposal was received with a mix of relief and apprehension by one group that has long supported the condemnation lawsuit.

"Even if I don't like the deal and even if I wanted to oppose it and lose, I can tell you I'll be glad when it's over," said Bill Wells, chairman of the Coalition to Preserve Las Virgenes.