Conservancy Sues to Block Land Sale and Protect Flower : Westlake Village: FDIC is accused of violating rules by negotiating with a developer who wants to build houses where a rare plant grows.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy on Tuesday sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to block the sale of nearly 500 acres around Westlake Reservoir to a developer who wants to build luxury houses on land where a rare, possibly endangered, wildflower grows.

Conservancy officials said they want to prevent the sale to the Irvine-based Baldwin Co. because construction on the site in the hills of Westlake Village would destroy many examples of the Pentachaeta lyonii, a wispy, yellow flower native to the Santa Monica Mountains.

Tuesday’s suit, filed in U. S. District Court in Washington, contends that the FDIC, which took over the property from the failed Vernon Savings and Loan in Dallas, is violating federal environmental rules by negotiating a sale to Baldwin, which wants to build 330 houses on it. The conservancy asked the court to delay the transaction until the FDIC complies with the rules or sells the land to the conservancy.

“This is not just regular real estate,” conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston said at a press conference on the 491-acre property. Edmiston said the FDIC “can’t just turn it over or sell it to a developer willy-nilly.”

The suit is the latest round in the conservancy’s battle to stop the sale to Baldwin and acquire the land itself. Conservancy officials had argued unsuccessfully last month that the FDIC should sell the property to them because federal rules require the agency to offer land on which endangered species are found to groups dedicated to protecting wildlife and preserving open space.

But because Pentachaeta lyonii falls one level below that required to qualify for formal protection under the federal government’s complicated classification system, the FDIC responded that it was under no obligation to halt the sale to Baldwin.

The flower is considered “threatened”--not “protected”--on the federal list but is on the state’s list of endangered species. U. S. Fish and Wildlife biologists in Ventura are preparing the paperwork necessary to change the flower’s status to protected.

Even if the flower were on the protected list, the FDIC said, it was not required to abide by the regulations because it was holding the land as a receiver of property for a failed savings and loan, and not as a federal agency. For that reason, the FDIC said it was subject only to bank rules.

Tuesday’s suit argues that the FDIC should not be allowed to claim exemption from environmental restrictions when it acts as a private party.

Calls to the FDIC were not returned Tuesday. In the past, however, officials have said that the agency is not insensitive to environmental concerns, but its job is simply to liquidate assets.

Baldwin Vice President Bob Burns said he had not seen a copy of the complaint and declined to speculate what effect, if any, it would have on negotiations with the FDIC. He did, however, say that a deal would be completed in “days or weeks.”

Although Burns declined to discuss a purchase price for the property, the complaint claims Baldwin will pay $10 million, $8 million of which will be loaned by the FDIC. No payments would be due for five years, according to the suit.

Conservancy officials said they want the opportunity to match or better that price.