Committee to Send Jordan Ranch Environmental Report to Planners

A committee of Ventura County officials unanimously agreed Wednesday to send the environmental impact report on the proposed Jordan Ranch project to the county Planning Commission, moving the development one step closer to a decision by the County Board of Supervisors.

Despite complaints from some environmentalists, county officials said Wednesday that they were satisfied that the study adequately addresses concerns about increased traffic and smog that would be generated by the Jordan Ranch development.

The project hinges, in part, on a proposed land swap that would involve federal parkland in neighboring Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.

The Planning Commission is expected to review the report, which found that the project “would have unavoidable and significant impacts” on air quality and traffic, in November. The six-inch-thick, 2,000-page report then will be sent to the Board of Supervisors for its consideration, possibly in early January, said county planner Dennis Hawkins, who has worked full time on the report since 1989.

A majority of the supervisors have said that they will oppose the project, which violates county open-space policy, unless it is significantly scaled down.

Potomac Investment Associates, which has an option on Bob Hope’s Jordan Ranch in the rolling hills east of Thousand Oaks, had initially planned to build 1,152 houses and a PGA golf course on the property.

The developer has since offered to scale back the project to 750 houses in hopes of gaining support from the Board of Supervisors.

However, several supervisors said the project would have little chance of being approved unless it is scaled back to between 250 and 500 houses.

Bruce Smith, a county planning official who headed the seven-member environmental review committee, said more information will be needed if the Board of Supervisors decides to approve a smaller version of the development.

Although some revisions were made in the environmental study to reflect Potomac’s new proposal of 750 houses, Smith said more detailed information is needed to determine what mitigation measures would be required of the developer.

But Smith noted that the board can approve the project in concept when it comes before the governing panel and simply request that additional environmental information be brought back at a later date.

Mary Wiesbrock, a board member of the environmental group Save Open Space, which opposes the project, said she feels that the environmental impact report is inadequate because it underestimates the effect that the increased traffic would have on the Ventura Freeway. The report found that the development would generate an average of about 10,000 more daily vehicle trips in the area. There would be an additional 20,000 vehicle trips a day during the annual PGA golf tournament.

Wiesbrock said the report also does not take into account other developments planned nearby.

Fred Maas, vice president of Potomac, said he was pleased that the Jordan Ranch project and its environmental impact can now move forward to the Planning Commission.

Under the land exchange proposal, the National Park Service would swap 59 acres of federal parkland in Cheeseboro Canyon in Agoura Hills that developers need for an access road to Jordan Ranch, for 1,100 acres of the property. In addition, Hope would sell or donate to park agencies 4,600 acres in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains for a below-market price of $10 million.