Developers’ Scramble

It appears that the heat’s being turned up a bit on the issue of the Jordan/Ahmanson Ranch developments as the date for the passing of the reins of supervisorial duty from Madge Schaefer to Maria VanderKolk approaches. Apparently, the development groups are scurrying to gain position while they can.

As I read the issue, it appears that Hope/Potomac will trade vast acreage for some parkland, giving them access to another vast tract of land that is currently master planned for 28 ranchettes. Onto this newly accessible land they propose to build hundreds of homes. Further, if the Hope/Potomac deal is not accepted, Bob Hope will sell another pristine tract of his land to be used as a dump.

The Ahmanson project will introduce approximately 3.25 million square feet of commercial, industrial and retail construction to the area, along with 3,000 residences. That is the equivalent footage of a building the size of the Conejo Village Bowl, but 81 stories tall.

All this is being presented in the face of EIRs that state that the projects will cause many thousands of additional daily car trips that will fully constipate the Ventura Freeway, overtax our dwindling water supply, which is overtaxed already, add many millions of tons of pollutants to our already gray/brown atmosphere and bring thousands more students into our already financially strapped school system.

Perhaps the growing cult of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) has merit. Hope/Potomac is attempting to hold the county hostage with threats of depositing a dump in our back yard if the county doesn’t throw out a well-conceived master plan in exchange for intense development in one of the remaining open tracts of land in southeast Ventura County. That smacks of bullying and extortion to me.

I, more than most, should be shouting “NIMBY.” When I was a boy, the Conejo Valley had a total population of 3,000. However, due to careful master planning in the first place, followed by adherence to the master plans during the area’s development, the valley remains a delightful community despite the influx of 150,000 people. Now the current master plan is threatened.

Master plans are implemented for good reasons--to give a long multi-decade overview of development. They are not to be tossed out like the proverbial bathwater. Otherwise we’re all apt to find our baby’s missing and life’s quality is irrevocably changed.

LAWRENCE C. JANSS

Thousand Oaks