Official Urges Use of Road to Block Project : Calabasas: Council member says the 14-foot right of way is all the city needs to have an effect on Ahmanson Ranch.

A Calabasas city councilwoman says a 14-foot stretch of Las Virgenes Road is all the city needs to block the huge Ahmanson Ranch project proposed for eastern Ventura County--or at least is enough to provide the city with a weapon to force the builder to bargain.

The 14 feet of unpaved right of way lies on one of two access roads to 3,100 homes the Ahmanson Land Co. plans to build in the hills just north of Calabasas and south of Simi Valley.

Lesley Devine said that because only the Calabasas council can grant permission to make road improvements leading to the housing project, the council members can now force the company and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to deal with them. The county supervisors have the final say on the project.

The city-owned right of way, the last 14 feet of Las Virgenes Road where it comes to an end north of the Ventura Freeway, was discovered by Devine in a search of city and county maps. City administrators said the city appears to have clear authority over the land.

Other council members said they sympathize with Devine’s attitude but need to consider the ramifications of her discovery.

But Devine said Wednesday that city officials would be foolish to grant permission for road improvements without getting something in return, such as guarantees that Calabasas streets would not be inundated with traffic.

“The land ambush from the northern hills is about to be stopped,” Devine said. “Fourteen feet is enough to finally make Ventura County fully aware that we will not have our community destroyed.”

Devine and other council members are frustrated with Ventura County officials because the city does not believe its complaints about the project have been taken seriously.

Other council members said the matter needs careful consideration.

“I think something like this would have to come before the council and we would have to weigh both sides of the issue,” Councilman Marvin Lopata said. “But I also think we need to protect our city from the impacts of that project.”

An Ahmanson spokeswoman declined to comment.

Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, one of the development’s biggest proponents, doubted Devine’s discovery would have much effect on the project’s progress. She also said the councilwoman was taking a narrow view of the issue, citing the 10,000 acres of parkland that will be gained under a complicated land swap that will go through if the project is allowed to be built.

“I think it’s shortsighted of them to be feeling this way,” she said. Responding to Devine’s complaints that the project dumped all of its traffic into Calabasas, VanderKolk said: “Well, Ventura County has received a tremendous amount of garbage from Los Angeles County for a number of years.”

Devine’s threatened blockade is similar to the tactic employed last year by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, who said she would refuse to allow Ahmanson to extend the project’s only other access road, at the western end of Victory Boulevard, over a one-foot wide right of way held by the city of Los Angeles.

Picus said Wednesday that she is negotiating with Ahmanson executives over ways to reduce traffic from the housing project onto Victory Boulevard, but said she has not backed down on her threat to use the one-foot right of way to block construction of a road.

“That’s my ace in the hole,” she said.

The Ahmanson Ranch project, which combines two developments once proposed there and at nearby Jordan Ranch, includes 3,100 houses, a 300-room hotel, two golf courses and stores and offices occupying 400,000 square feet.

Two schools, fire and sheriff stations, a post office and a library also are planned for the community.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the consolidated project in concept in December and placed it on a fast-track review that could lead to a final vote this summer.

The supervisors were warned at their meeting Tuesday that Calabasas residents will vigorously oppose the Ahmanson Project. Janice Lee, the leader of a group of residents who live near Las Virgenes Road, presented a petition of opposition to the board that carried 307 signatures.

Lee said the housing project “would overwhelm our residential streets.” It would bring “all of the negative impacts to Calabasas while Ventura County extracts all the benefits,” she said.

The homeowners group joins the Agoura Hill-based Save Open Space as primary opponents to the project.

Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.

BACKGROUND

Ahmanson Ranch is a 3,100-house project proposed for eastern Ventura County. If the project is approved, Ahmanson will donate 3,025 acres to the National Park Service and 7,363 acres will be sold to state and federal parks for a below-market $29.5 million.