MEINERS OAKS : Developer Loses Subdivision Appeal
A Santa Barbara developer who wants to build a 50-home subdivision in Meiners Oaks received a setback this past week when a state Court of Appeal declined to reconsider his lawsuit against Ventura County.
Attorney Frederick W. Clough said developer John J. Schuck of Franciscan West Developments has a week to decide if he will take the case to the state Supreme Court.
Schuck sued the county in 1988 after it adopted a General Plan banning new subdivisions that would increase traffic on California 33 through Casitas Springs.
He won the suit last year on grounds that his application fell under the old General Plan. A state Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in August, finding that his application became a new project when he reduced it from 52 to 50 homes. Schuck asked the court to reconsider its ruling, but it declined last week to do so.
Meanwhile, after more than two years of review, the county Environmental Report Review Committee unanimously passed the project’s draft environmental impact report to the County Planning Commission.
As drafted, the report requires Schuck to contribute a fair share toward the building of a $24-million highway bypass around Casitas Springs and a park-and-ride lot near California 33.
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