From the Los Angeles Times:
California officials and Hearst Corp. have reached a tentative agreement on a $95-million deal to preserve most of the rolling hills and grassy tablelands of the Hearst Ranch around San Simeon, which have long served as a picturesque gateway to Big Sur.
Under the proposed accord, which California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman announced after months of negotiations, the state would buy about 1,400 acres west of Highway 1. The purchase would make public about 13 miles of the state’s best-known undeveloped stretch of coast — a land of cliffs, rocky outcrops and short beaches colonized by lounging elephant seals.
Hearst Corp. would retain ownership of four parcels along the coast, totaling five miles of shoreline. At the base of one of those parcels — San Simeon Point — the company, owned by a family foundation, would retain the right to build a 100-room hotel based on architectural plans of Julia Morgan, who designed Hearst Castle.
The corporation would allow some public access across each of the parcels by way of the California Coastal Trail, a work in progress that is designed to run the length of the state.
On the rest of the roughly 120-square-mile cattle ranch that surrounds Hearst Castle, a “conservation easement” would prevent most development. The ranch reaches from the coastline far into the forests and rangeland of the Santa Lucia Mountains in northern San Luis Obispo County.
Hearst Corp. would keep the right to build 27 homes deep in the canyons so long as they were out of view of the highway and Hearst Castle, which is owned and operated by state park officials. The homes are presumably for family members, but could be sold to outsiders, according to negotiators. The family has owned the ranch since 1865.