Soka Buying 20 Acres for Faculty Housing : Development: Park officials and Calabasas homeowners criticize the university’s acquisition.

Soka University officials acknowledged Friday that the school is buying 20 acres next to its holdings in the Santa Monica Mountains for faculty housing, an acquisition they said will reduce traffic to and from the campus.

Confirming persistent rumors about the purchase, a spokeswoman for the Japan-based school said building faculty housing off campus also will allow preservation of more of the environmentally sensitive areas of the 580 acres the school already owns.

Soka spokeswoman Bernetta Reade also acknowledged Friday that the school had previously purchased a 9,000-square-foot mansion on a two-acre site next to the new property, which she said would be the future home of the college chancellor.

The disclosures drew criticism from state and federal park officials and Calabasas-area homeowners, who oppose the school’s expansion plans. They said it indicates that the school’s plans would have an even greater effect on the secluded Las Virgenes Valley.

“You can’t put this kind of university in the mountains without causing ripples of impacts, and this is just one of the ripples we’re going to see,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Edmiston also questioned whether the housing would reduce the potential traffic congestion, because he said the faculty members and their families would undoubtedly drive out of the valley for shopping and school.

Les Hardie, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, said school officials had repeatedly assured his group of 19 homeowner organizations that “they had all the land they needed in order to build what they wanted.”

“This really shows that they can’t be trusted as far as you can spit,” Hardie said.

However, Reade said the school never promised not to buy more land. Each time the question was asked, she said, school officials have replied that there were no definite plans for more acquisitions at the time.

The new property is north of Mulholland Highway and east of Las Virgenes Road, across the street from the main campus. The new acquisitions cost more than $8 million, according to the buyer and seller, bringing Soka’s total purchases in the mountains to more than $50 million.

Reade said the school paid about $5.8 million for 20 acres owned by Malibu Valley Farms, a horse farming and development firm. Brian Boudreau, who manages the land and is one of its owners, said the university also bought the mansion above the lots in 1990 for about $2.5 million.

By providing faculty housing, the school can further reduce commuter traffic to the school, Reade said. (The school has indicated in the past that most students will live on campus and that car ownership will be restricted.)

“This way the faculty will not have to drive . . . which is a big concern of the people who are opposing them,” said Liz Ward, spokeswoman for Friends of Soka University, a new 40-member group.

Soka is evaluating the environmental effects of its proposal to build a 4,400-student liberal arts college and high school as part of its effort to win Los Angeles County approval of the project. The environmental impact report is expected to be completed this month, Reade said, but will not include analysis of the faculty housing.

John Schwarze, head of the county’s current planning branch, said the school does not have to include the new lots provided it conforms to current plans for the subdivision, which call for eight large houses.

However, opponents said they would lobby the county to include the faculty housing in the review.

The purchase arrangement is complicated: The school paid Boudreau $5.8 million in the form of a loan last spring, which he said he used to pay off development loans. Under the contract between the school and Malibu Valley Farms, the school has the option of being repaid the money or taking title to the property.

The purchase is contingent on the subdivision gaining final approval, which Boudreau said he expects from the county in March. The deal also requires Boudreau to complete all the site preparations, including grading, and installing sewer and water lines.

Malibu Valley Farms owns at least nine more lots on 23 acres in the area, but Reade said the school has “no current plans” to buy that land and Boudreau said the school has shown no interest in the property.