Talks Under Way to Buy Lake Sherwood for Public Use

Park officials from three agencies have resurrected an 8-year-old plan to turn billionaire developer David Murdock’s private Lake Sherwood into a public lake.

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, an agency representing the Conejo and Rancho Simi park districts and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, has been negotiating for three weeks in an attempt to strike a deal, Conejo Recreation and Park District General Manager Tex Ward said Monday. The lake is south of Thousand Oaks.

If successful, park officials would open the 156-acre lake for public recreation, Ward said. Private homeowners who live in the exclusive lake-front community now pay $550 a year for the privilege of using the lake.

“The prime motivation is the public use of that resource for boating and fishing,” Ward said.

Ward declined to specify the terms being negotiated. Murdock owes the county and the Conejo park district about $3 million in fees, money that could be used in the acquisition, Ward said.

Rorie Skei, a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy spokeswoman, said the idea of buying the lake was spawned in 1982 when the conservancy set aside $2 million in grants to buy it from then-owner Dayton Realty Co.

Conservancy officials never got far in negotiations, Skei said. The deadline for using the grants passed in 1985, and Murdock subsequently bought the lake with the intent of developing 600 luxury residences around it. About 140 are being developed now.

The sale to the park agency would guarantee the only public lake in eastern Ventura County, Skei said. The community of Westlake in Thousand Oaks has a private lake and Lake Eleanor, southeast of Lake Sherwood, is also not open to the public.

Steve Seemann, executive vice president of Murdock’s Lake Sherwood Ranch Ltd., described the negotiations as “very preliminary,” but said the parks agency is a strong contender.

“We like the idea. I hope it goes through,” Seemann said.

Still to be resolved is the price as well as the source of funds to buy and maintain the lake and a dam, last appraised together by the county at $2.7 million.

Maintenance costs for the lake range from $353,000 to $674,000 a year, said John Crowley, deputy director of the county public works department.

Financing the maintenance is one of the key concerns in buying the lake, as well as acquiring public access and space for parking lots and boats, Ward said. The park agencies may have to operate boating or other concessions to pay for maintenance.

“The lake is going to be paid for one way or another,” he said.

Murdock’s representatives contacted park officials after abandoning plans last month to sell the lake to longtime homeowners. Under Murdock’s proposal, about $4,000 would have been levied against each homeowner, a move opposed by many of the existing residents of the exclusive Lake Sherwood community.

Although homeowners were relieved after Murdock dropped his proposal, support for turning the lake public is far from unanimous, one homeowners group leader said.

“Our community has mixed feelings on it,” said Carl Price, a board member of the Lake Sherwood Community Assn., which represents owners of 121 residences and 47 vacant lots. “I’ve heard more people interested in the idea of park acquisition than I’ve heard in opposition.”

Price said some homeowners bought property around the lake front because they thought that the lake would remain private. They fear that picnickers and boaters would trespass on private property.

The association’s leaders met Monday with Murdock representatives to discuss the proposed sale and are planning to notify other homeowners this week.

“I see some benefits in going that way, but I don’t want to make a final decision until we know all the details,” said Price, a 15-year resident of Lake Sherwood.