Judge to Rule on Sale of Rare-Flower Habitat

A federal judge in Washington said Tuesday that he will rule shortly on a request to bar a federal agency from selling to a private developer a Westlake Village tract that is home to a rare flower native to the Santa Monica Mountains.

After hearing oral arguments from lawyers for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, U.S. District Judge Stanley Harris took under advisement the conservancy’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the sale of the 491-acre tract, on which Pentachaeta lyonii , a wispy yellow flower, grows.

The FDIC, which took over the property next to Westlake Reservoir from the failed Vernon Savings & Loan of Texas, is trying to sell it to the Baldwin Co. The Irvine-based developer wants to build 330 homes on the tract.

Conservancy officials had asked the FDIC to sell them the property, arguing that federal regulations require the agency to offer land that is home to endangered species to groups devoted to protecting wildlife and open space. The conservancy is a state agency that purchases parkland in the Santa Monicas and neighboring mountains and hills.

The FDIC rejected the request, saying, among other things, that Pentachaeta lyonii is officially “threatened,” not “protected,” and thus not covered by the federal regulations. Efforts are pending to change the flower’s classification to “protected.”

After its request was spurned, the conservancy sued the FDIC last month in federal court in an effort to block the sale. Tuesday’s hearing concerned the conservancy’s request for a restraining order blocking the sale.

“The judge listened to both sides, said, ‘thank you very much, I’ll render a decision soon,’ ” said Caryl Austrian, a spokeswoman for the FDIC.