Court Ruling Puts Brakes on State’s Bid to Seize Soka : Parklands: A judge tells conservancy officials they erred in seeking Ventura County supervisors’ approval for condemning the Calabasas property.

A Ventura County judge dealt a potentially fatal blow Tuesday to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s attempts to condemn Soka University’s scenic Calabasas campus, long coveted by state and federal agencies as the site for a national park headquarters.

Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Lane ruled that the conservancy, a state agency that acquires parkland, erred when it secured approval from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to launch condemnation proceedings last fall against the private school, operated by a Tokyo-based university.

Lane also determined that conservancy officials did not adequately consider the environmental effects of seizing 244 acres of the campus at the corner of Mulholland Highway and Las Virgenes Road.

Tuesday’s decision seriously undermines the conservancy’s first attempt to seize land through eminent domain--a process already under way in Los Angeles Superior Court. It also threatens to drive up the cost of the Soka property to the conservancy, even if condemnation proceedings eventually succeed, by as much as $10 million because of a state law that went into effect Jan. 1.

Although Lane’s ruling does not automatically invalidate the conservancy’s legal efforts, it does hobble them considerably, Soka lawyers said. “Let’s say it’s limping,” attorney Hodge Dolle said of the conservancy’s case. “It’s going to be very hard put to make the race.”

Conservancy attorney Robert McMurry said the agency probably will appeal Lane’s decision. “We think she is completely wrong and we hope the court of appeal will agree with us,” he said, adding that the effect of Lane’s decision was not immediately clear.

Although McMurry and others on his litigation team tried to project positive images after the ruling, at least one conservancy staff member immediately called Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston to tell him what she called the “bad news.”

Tuesday’s ruling was the latest round in a protracted fight between the school and the parks agency, which wants the land for a headquarters and visitors center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The conservancy last year offered to buy Soka’s land for $19.7 million, refusing the school’s long-standing offer to share the site. But Soka administrators, in turn, rejected the conservancy offer.

Soka administrators want to use the site to build a 3,400-student liberal arts college and language school. The current school is financially supported in part by the Japanese branch of the Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai.

Complicating the case is a state law that took effect Jan. 1, requiring that nonprofit agencies whose lands are condemned be reimbursed for any improvements and relocation expenses. That would considerably increase the amount the conservancy would have to pay, which would be determined by a jury after the condemnation.

Eager to beat that deadline, conservancy officials in November launched the first condemnation proceedings in the agency’s 13-year history.

It was that action that Lane invalidated.

Rather than seeking condemnation authorization from the state Board of Public Works, which is the standard practice for state agencies, the conservancy sought--and received--approval from the Ventura supervisors last November.

Although Soka’s land sits entirely within Los Angeles County, the conservancy’s negotiating arm--the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority--has a joint-powers agreement with two Ventura County parks agencies. According to the conservancy, that agreement gave the Ventura supervisors jurisdiction.

Soka sued, arguing that the Ventura board has no authority over land-use issues in Los Angeles County. Conservancy attorneys were nonetheless allowed to file condemnation proceedings in late December in Los Angeles County to beat the deadline.

On Tuesday, Lane agreed with Soka lawyers, saying state law clearly requires the agency to obtain approval from Sacramento for such an action.