Land-Use Suit Names Musician, Agency : Santa Monicas: State and L.A. officials are accused of seeking to buy the parcel to please Don Henley.

By MYRON LEVIN

April 29, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Rock musician Don Henley and city and state officials have been accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to block development of a parcel of land in the Santa Monica Mountains so the state could buy it for less than its value and protect the solitude of Henley’s Bel-Air home.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the owners of the property above Sherman Oaks, contends that officials fraudulently concocted environmental motives for buying the land--such as protecting wildlife habitat--when their real goal was to please Henley so he would contribute money and his star status to their campaigns.

The lawsuit was filed by Richard, Jean and Adam Siegler against Henley and several officials, including Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

It contends they “were motivated by a desire to please and placate Henley, a well-known and well-connected celebrity, in part because he had provided or might in the future provide contributions, connections with the music and entertainment industry, and other benefits to the political careers of these Defendants.”

Yaroslavsky and Edmiston reacted angrily to the lawsuit, calling it a ploy by the Sieglers to extract more money from the conservancy--a state parks agency--which was negotiating to buy their property on Mulholland Drive. The conservancy, in response, will abandon its efforts to buy the land, Edmiston said.

Adam Siegler, a lawyer, is “a very litigious individual who thinks that he can bully us with a bunch of absolutely meritless” claims, Edmiston said. “There’s nothing to this lawsuit.”

The complaint is meant “to turn up some publicity heat to try to lever a better price out of the conservancy,” Yaroslavsky said. “We will not lose a lot of sleep over this lawsuit.”

Henley, a former member of the Eagles rock band, has been deeply involved in environmental causes, including a crusade to preserve land at Walden Pond in Massachusetts that was home to Henry David Thoreau.

Henley could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Lisa Specht, said she had not yet seen the complaint but that it “sounds very far-fetched.”

Edmiston said the land is extremely steep, making it difficult to develop. Siegler, he added sarcastically, “can enjoy the full fruits of his property rights, totally unencumbered and unrestricted by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.”

Adam Siegler was unavailable for comment.

The Sieglers own two lots covering 6.35 acres in the 14100 block of Mulholland Drive, just west of the Henley property.

According to the lawsuit, the Sieglers were making progress in winning approval to build a house on one of the lots until Yaroslavsky and the conservancy staff began putting up roadblocks.

The Sieglers’ problems allegedly began after Henley expressed an interest in buying the property and donating it to the conservancy. Henley also donated $4,725 to conservancy officials for an appraisal of the land--which the lawsuit said made them “guilty of accepting bribes.”

At the same time, Henley and Yaroslavsky “were on friendly terms,” according to the lawsuit, which said Henley had contributed to Yaroslavsky’s political campaigns and once gave a backstage pass for a rock concert to an aide, Maria Chong-Castillo.

Citing internal notes and correspondence, the suit contends that representatives of the conservancy and Yaroslavsky, along with Henley and another neighbor, Harry Fox, held meetings to fabricate environmental reasons to protect the property--when their real goal was appeasing Henley and Fox.

Through Yaroslavsky’s intervention, the site’s soil suitability report, approved in 1989, was rescinded by city bureaucrats two years later, the suit said.

Then last year, Yaroslavsky called on planning officials to conduct a full environmental review before approving construction on the site, though the complaint said he knew such a review was unwarranted.

Although their development plans have not been rejected, the lawsuit claims the Sieglers “will never have a fair hearing or a fair review of their building plans” because of the influence of Yaroslavsky and the conservancy.

The complaint, which accuses the defendants of fraud and civil rights violations, seeks unspecified damages and an injunction barring them from interfering with use and development of the property.

Along with Henley, Yaroslavsky, Edmiston and Fox, defendants include Yaroslavsky aide Virginia Krueger, Henley business manager Lester Kaufman, conservancy land acquisition chief John Diaz, the city of Los Angeles, the conservancy, and the conservancy’s sister agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

“We plead guilty to wanting to keep as much of the terrain of the Santa Monica Mountains in its natural state as possible, but we do so within accepted bounds” of constitutional rights, Yaroslavsky said.

He called Henley “a guy who puts his money where his mouth is . . . in acquisition of land and in preservation of land for open space. . . . I think he has . . . helped raise the consciousness of the nation on environmental concerns,” Yaroslavsky said.

Edmiston called the lawsuit “hogwash,” and said the land is one of many tracts the state agency is trying to buy to preserve wildlife movement between the large habitat areas of Griffith Park and Topanga State Park.

Edmiston also said the conservancy has always encouraged private parties to donate money to purchase and appraise land. “The alternative is the taxpayers buy it,” he said.

The conservancy’s policy-making board last month authorized the purchase of the Siegler property at a price set by a pending appraisal.

Edmiston said the appraisal, which has been completed, was the second ordered by the conservancy, because the Sieglers were unhappy with the price set by the first one in 1991.

While saying he could not disclose appraisal figures while sales are pending, Edmiston said the recent appraisal was lower than the original one rejected by the Sieglers.

With the swoon in the real estate market, Edmiston said, “it should not surprise anyone that values went lower,” adding that Siegler “would like to make us his scapegoat for lower prices.”