Undeveloped Coastal Parcel to Be Preserved

Bringing under public ownership one of the most significant swaths of undeveloped coastline in Southern California, a nonprofit land trust said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to purchase 2,500 acres of the sprawling El Capitan Ranch just west of Santa Barbara.

The ranch is home to a range of plants and animals. One of the key elements of the sale, said the buyer, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, is that the ranch will link El Capitan State Beach to the Los Padres National Forest.

“It will connect the beach to the mountains,” said Mary Menees, a spokeswoman for the trust in San Francisco.

The purchase agreement is set to be announced today. Menees said the land is still being appraised, but Central Coast project manager Deborah Geiler said she expects the final purchase price to be less than $10 million.

She said that would be a more than fair price for a key piece of the Gaviota coast. The property will be acquired by the trust, then resold to the state for public preservation, hopefully by 2002, Menees said..

Formerly owned by Texaco, the property fronts U.S. 101 for 1 1/2 miles. El Capitan Ranch includes many hiking and equestrian trails with panoramic coastal views, according to the trust.

It also contains 25 different watersheds and a number of important animals. Just as important, said Menees, the property is a transition zone between the Northern and Southern California climates and biospheres. “You find animals from both zones,” Menees said.

“El Capitan Ranch serves as a critical link between the increasingly popular Channel Islands National Park to the south and the federally protected Los Padres National Forest to the north,” said a project book.

The property has come under increasing development pressures. It is currently zoned for agriculture but allows for up to 25 ranchettes of 100 acres each, said Menees.

Other development recently approved in the Gaviota Coast area are a 400-room resort, a golf course and a subdivision of 275 lots.

Bringing the property within public ownership has been a goal of local conservationists in the Santa Barbara area for several years. State Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) and Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) have co-authored a $6-million request toward purchase of the ranch. Menees said the property will probably ultimately be managed by the state Parks Department, the U.S. Forest Service, or a combination of the two.

The seller is Cima del Mundo, representing what spokesman Rob Egenolf calls environmental investors. The two partners, onetime banker Chuck Blitz and Roger Himovitz, have been involved in several land deals on the Central Coast to preserve property for the public.

“They’re the white knights in this thing,” Egenolf said.

What made the purchase happen, he said, was the sale from Texaco in December to Cima. Cima also was able to resolve a water rights lawsuit with neighbors, clearing the way for the land transfer to Cima and then to the trust.

The total size of the ranch is about 3,100 acres. Cima will retain about 500 acres of horse facilities and home sites.

“Gaviota is the last 40 miles of unspoiled coast in Southern California,” Egenolf said. “This is a key property” on that coast.