Banning Ranch got a boost this week from the Coastal Conservancy, a state agency that approved giving up to $11.5 million in grant funds to the effort to preserve the Newport Beach land as public open space.

The funds catapult conservationists closer to their $97 million goal to buy 384 acres of land from its owners in what is considered one of the last and biggest privately owned, largely undeveloped properties along the coast.

“It’s one of those where you’re cautiously optimistic, at the same time really excited,” said Melanie Schlotterbeck, executive director for the Banning Ranch Conservancy.  “This is enormous, if I can use a word that big.”

An agreement forged last year would allow the Trust for Public Land to purchase the bulk of the 401-acre site from the landowners and turn it into a public nature preserve.

Since at least the mid-1990s developers have eyed the land – just inland of Pacific Coast Highway and east of the Santa Ana River – for housing and commercial projects. At one point 1,750 homes were planned, but that was scaled back, with the most recent proposal calling for 895 homes, a resort hotel and retail shops on 70 acres.

After the California Coastal Commission rejected that plan in 2016, conservationists pressed forward to negotiate with the land owners.

In 2019, Newport Beach developer and philanthropist Frank Randall and his wife, Joann, donated $50 million to the effort, an important stake that helped supporters raise more money, said Schlotterbeck.

On May 26, the Wildlife Conservation Board is expected to discuss approving a $10 million grant, which would bring the fundraising effort to the finish line.

Once all funding is in place, the buyers need to undergo due diligence to get close of escrow, she noted. But having the money secured is one of the biggest hurdles.

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Saving the land for public use is important for many reasons, Schlotterbeck said, such as expanding open space access for economically disadvantaged communities.

“Having access to parks within walking distance or a short bike ride improves public health, decreases climate impacts, increases resiliency for our infrastructure and provides access to what they don’t have access to right now,” she said.

The location is also an ancestral home of several indigenous tribes.

“This is one of the last areas that opportunity exists along the coast to protect a sacred site,” Schlotterbeck said. “So it has a lot of meaning on a lot of levels.”