Opponents Lay Groundwork for Court Fight

The message from across the county line was clear: Watch out because we’ll be watching.

As the Ventura County Board of Supervisors heard public testimony Wednesday on the environmental impact report on the massive Ahmanson Ranch project, Los Angeles County officials and residents carefully laid the groundwork for possible legal challenges.

“This is the beginning of the chess game,” Calabasas Councilwoman Karyn Foley said before her allies began to meticulously pick apart the study at the public hearing.

Foley and many other Los Angeles County opponents of the project concede they have lost hope of persuading Ventura County officials to scale back the plans of Ahmanson Land Co.

The property lies within Ventura County, but most of the project’s adverse effects--such as increased traffic--would be felt most sharply in Los Angeles County, particularly Calabasas. Ventura County, meanwhile, stands to benefit from new tax revenue, parks and recreational facilities, and the proposed mini-city has many backers there.

Since Calabasas and its neighbors have no legal authority over Ahmanson Ranch and have little political influence west of the county line, their best hope is to attack the project in court, they say. And that can only come after Ventura County supervisors approve the project--possibly by the end of the year.

Like chess, the game of blocking Ahmanson Ranch requires thinking several moves ahead; in this game, players must follow the guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act, which establishes strict procedures for reviewing and approving projects that significantly alter the landscape.

Ahmanson Ranch opponents are counting on Ventura County officials to make a procedural error that would violate the act and provide them with legal ammunition to attack the project in court.

“The whole purpose of CEQA is procedural,” said Les Hardie, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation. “This begins the process of setting us all up to file a lawsuit if necessary.”

Much of the grist for future challenges is contained in thousands of pages of comments prepared by experts who pored over the environmental report in search of flaws. The experts were working for Calabasas, the city and county of Los Angeles, as well as state and federal park agencies. They submitted their written comments over the past several days.

In many ways, some opponents conceded, Wednesday’s hearing was pro forma. Few figured they could squeeze persuasive criticisms of the three-inch-thick environmental report into the few minutes allowed each speaker.

So instead of the impassioned pleas common at such hearings, opponents on Wednesday were calm and calculating, making technical points that could later be used to portray Ventura County as unresponsive.

The Ahmanson Ranch critics made it clear that they expected their criticisms to be answered by Ventura County officials in detail--and that they would be watching closely for missteps by county officials.

“We want to make it explicit that this is a critical issue to the city of Calabasas,” City Atty. Charles Vose said.

If the opponents eventually persuade a judge that the environmental report is flawed, the court could order further study or perhaps tell the developer to redesign the project. In any event, a lawsuit would delay the project.

It is unclear what effect a delay would have, but opponents believe any time lag could work in their favor.

Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, the project’s biggest supporter on the board, said she was aware of the opposition’s strategy. But, she said, her county is taking pains to proceed in a “legally defensible manner. Every T has to be crossed.”