Laguna Efforts Inspire Palos Verdes Group to Press for Land Preservation : Environment: Conservancy wants to buy open space on peninsula as South County city did in canyon.

RANCHO PALOS VERDES — Inspired by Laguna Beach’s success in preserving land in Laguna Canyon, a local conservation group has launched an ambitious effort to acquire 900 acres of open space in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The land is privately owned by developers who want to subdivide the rugged coastal property, known as Portuguese Bend-Abalone Cove, and build upscale homes and a 27-hole golf course in the area. However, all development is blocked by a building moratorium imposed because of the danger of landslides in the area.

Environmentalists and conservationists have vigorously opposed efforts by developers to have the moratorium lifted.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, a nonprofit group, wants to acquire the land and turn it into a nature preserve. If successful, the group’s plans would put an end to the controversy over how best to handle the troublesome slide area.

The massive, slow-moving landslides began 35 years ago, triggered by road construction on the unstable rocky slopes. Over the years, more than 200 homes have been damaged or destroyed by land movement in the area.

Almost $7 million has been spent by property owners and the city in desperate efforts to stop the slippage, which has sent some homes and roads tumbling into the sea. Some parts of the slide area are still moving a few inches a year, geologists report.

There are still 219 homes in the area. However, most of the land in the 1,100-acre moratorium zone is undeveloped open space. The area is crisscrossed with trails used by hikers and horseback riders, and it abounds in coastal wildlife.

The conservancy is asking the peninsula’s four cities and the area’s largest developers and land owners--Barry Hon of Orange County and James Monaghan of Phoenix--to share in the cost of drafting a wide-ranging plan to buy 900 acres and other open space on the peninsula. The land would be designated as a nature reserve.

“If all goes as hoped, we will form a peninsula-wide open space district to raise money and acquire these lands,” conservancy President William Ailor said.

Such a special district would have to be formed by a vote of the residents and would have its own elected board of directors and staff, Ailor said.

The task will be to determine if peninsula residents are willing to launch a preservation effort, Ailor said. To find out, the conservancy wants to hire a professional polling firm to formulate a plan of action.

“We want to go about this the way they did in Laguna Beach to save Laguna Canyon from the developers down in Orange County,” Ailor said.

When the Irvine Co. proposed developing an unspoiled area of Laguna Canyon several years ago, it sparked a movement to preserve the land.

To resolve the issue, Ailor said the city brought in a mediator--Nelson Communications of Costa Mesa--to pull the various factions together in an effort to determine what it would take to preserve the canyon.

After months of negotiations, government agencies, the Irvine Co. and community groups agreed on an $80-million purchase plan that would preserve the land as open space. Laguna Beach voters approved a $20-million bond issue in 1990 to pay for the city’s share of buying the land.

Ailor said the conservancy wants to hire Nelson Communications to do the same kind of thing on the peninsula, at a cost of $28,000. The conservancy wants the cities and the developers not only to participate, but also to share in the cost of coming up with a plan.

So far, Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates have each agreed to put up $1,125, the amount requested by the conservancy. The Rolling Hills City Council balked at that sum, but agreed that it could afford to donate $500. The Palos Verdes Estates City Council said it had better use for its money elsewhere.

Once the mediator is hired, a series of meetings will be held and an areawide survey will be conducted to see what peninsula residents want, Ailor said.

The conservancy is anxious to get started.

“We hope to get the survey done by the end of this year or early next. Then, once we find out what the people think about the idea, we can decided if we want to go ahead and form a district,” Ailor said.

In addition to the Portuguese Bend lands, the conservancy is interested in the old Quarry Bowl, a 200-acre parcel in Rancho Palos Verdes, and the smaller Chandler Trust property near Dapplegray School in Rolling Hills Estates, Ailor said.

The hope is that landowners will be willing to donate some or all of the property, but the district would be empowered to raise money to buy land, he said.

“They managed to get a consensus (in Laguna Beach), they put the issue to the voters and over 80% approved the bond issue,” he said. “We could do the same thing here.”