El Monte

A court challenge to the proposed 72-unit El Monte Villas town house project, dismissed because of a legal technicality, has been renewed, an attorney for the plaintiffs said.

Attorney Tom Keizer said his clients have filed an amended lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to stop the project, but no date for a new hearing has been set.

Keizer represents Christine Hernandez and Janet Laich, who claim that the city failed to conduct an adequate environmental impact review of the project. Construction has not yet begun on the site, which is situated in a city redevelopment zone along a strip of Southern Pacific railroad right-of-way on Ramona Boulevard near Peck Road.

On July 10, Superior Court Judge John Cole ruled that the plaintiffs failed to name the property owner and other important parties in their lawsuit and gave them 30 days to do so. The land is owned by a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Santa Fe Corp.--the Southern Pacific Transportation Co.--which was not named in the original lawsuit but has now been included.

The amended suit also names the El Monte-San Jacinto-Downey Housing Authority, which is issuing bonds to help subsidize low interest mortgage loans to buyers. The city and Allwest Development Corp. of Pasadena. already are named as defendants in the lawsuit.