Environmentalist Group’s Lawsuit Seeks to Block Parkland Deal
An environmentalist group opposed to a planned 2,600-house project on the Ahmanson Ranch in eastern Ventura County filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to prevent a state park agency from issuing what the suit called “a $10-million loan” to developers for the purchase of parkland.
Save Open Space, which opposes large-scale developments in the region, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state park agency that purchases and oversees parkland in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains.
But Joe Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy, said the money to be paid to Potomac Investment Associates is not a loan. Instead, he said, the payment is for the acquisition of a specific piece of property owned by entertainer Bob Hope, who is working with Potomac in the complex land deal.
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