Land a Smoke Screen?

Two key questions arise out of the recent wheelings and dealings by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Bob Hope over an access road to his property.

Why is all this going on when the Draft EIRs for Hope’s project and for the Liberty Canyon project (both with Potomac Investment Associates as developers) are not yet ready for public review? Could it be that the projects are so harsh on all aspects of the environment that the developers know they could never even attempt to mitigate them? So, to soften the impact of the environmental nightmare when the EIRs are finally released, they are laying a smoke screen in the guise of a large amount of “donated” land.

The second question deals with the wildlife access corridor under the Ventura Freeway along Liberty Canyon Road. Currently, the underpass is used very little during the dark and early morning hours. This is one of the few documented passages left for wildlife to cross under the freeway between Calabasas and Thousand Oaks.

In order to access Bob Hope’s land, Potomac Investment Associates will extend Liberty Canyon Road north through their Liberty Canyon Project parcel next to the freeway. Since this road will be expensive to build, they are proposing over 1 million square feet of commercial development, including a 200-room hotel which will overlook the existing wildlife corridor.

This, along with the road extension, will put an end to the wildlife passage and further sever the animal populations south of the freeway to the ocean. As stated time and again by many wildlife experts, when a habitat becomes fragmented, then native plant and animal species will become extinct.

Maybe all those who feel this land swap is such a good deal should invest in plastic figures of deer, coyotes, fox, bobcats and mountain lions and place them strategically in the Santa Monica Mountains parks so that visitors can pretend that they saw some real animals.

DIANE VENABLE

Agoura Hills