Ventura Supervisor Scolds Simi Mayor Over Jordan Ranch Panel

Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk has lashed out at Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton for trying to form an advisory panel on the proposed Jordan Ranch development north of Agoura Hills.

VanderKolk’s criticism came in a letter to Stratton Thursday, condemning him for failing to tell the Ventura supervisors about the group he is assembling.

“Your failure to alert or involve the most important body concerned with this matter . . . is an affront to customary civility and the administrative process,” she said in the letter, a copy of which she provided to The Times.

The development would be located in an unincorporated area of Ventura County, just west of the San Fernando Valley between Simi Valley and Agoura Hills, in VanderKolk’s supervisorial district.

Stratton said in an interview that the panel would not attempt to take any authority away from the supervisors, and he added that he is not required to advise the supervisors of his actions.

“I’m surprised that she sees this as a ruffling of her feathers,” Stratton said. “I think she is being a bit too sensitive.”

The heated exchange is the latest development in an issue that has split city and county officials and environmentalists in both Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The Ventura supervisors will decide this fall whether to let entertainer Bob Hope build 750 houses and a golf course at the 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch in the hills south of Simi Valley.

As part of the project, Hope has offered a complex land swap that would turn 5,700 acres over to state and federal park agencies. In exchange, the developer of the project would get $10 million and 59 acres of federal parkland needed for a road into the housing project.

Four of the five supervisors have voiced grave concerns about building the project in an area designated for open space. VanderKolk, who took office in January, has been among the most vocal opponents of the project, beginning during her election campaign.

But the Simi Valley City Council supports the land swap because a large parcel of Hope property next to the city would be preserved as parkland and could not be developed as a landfill, as proposed by Los Angeles County.

Stratton said he wants the advisory board to include representatives from the cities of Malibu, Port Hueneme, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and from the Old Agoura Homeowners Assn., the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council. He has begun sending letters requesting support.

He said the group would simply discuss the concerns that the representatives have about the project and talk with the developer about ways to lessen those concerns.

“We believe that the process is bigger than one supervisorial district,” he said.

Stratton said he is not sure if he can form the group before the supervisors decide on the development. But he said if the supervisors reject the project, the group can discuss ways to keep the development alive, including annexing the property into Simi Valley.

“We understand that they will make the decision on this project, but we in the city recognize that we are part of the decision-making process,” he said.

But VanderKolk questions the legitimacy of such a group and suggests that Stratton’s panel is an attempt to circumvent the county’s decision-making process.

“What you propose would lessen the authority of Ventura County in this most important decision,” she said.

Ventura Supervisor John Flynn, a longtime opponent of the project, said he has no objections to the formation of an advisory group but said he agrees that Stratton should have notified VanderKolk.

Supervisor Susan Lacey said she had not seen the letter and declined to comment.

Supervisors Maggie Erickson Kildee and Vicky Howard could not be reached for comment.