SIMI VALLEY : Hearing Will Focus on Road Extension

A proposal to extend the Los Angeles County portion of Thousand Oaks Boulevard 1,000 feet to the Ventura County line as part of the giant Ahmanson Ranch housing development will be the subject of a hearing today in Los Angeles.

The Ahmanson Land Co. wants to extend Thousand Oaks Boulevard from Mountain Gate Drive in Los Angeles County across the Ventura County line, which would also require a permit to remove nine oak trees.

A hearing on the issue is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Hall of Records in downtown Los Angeles, said Richard Frazier, a regional planning official.

The Thousand Oaks Boulevard extension would be one of two main entrances to the Ahmanson development, which calls for 3,050 dwellings, two golf courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial space to be built in the rolling hills southeast of Simi Valley.

The Ahmanson project, approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors in December, 1992, has been stalled because of lawsuits filed by Los Angeles County and other jurisdictions that would be affected by the project.

Nine plaintiffs, including Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Malibu and Calabasas, sued to reopen the environmental review process.

But a Ventura County judge March 4 upheld the Board of Supervisors’ decision and ruled that the development’s environmental impact report complied with all state guidelines.

The city of Calabasas now plans to appeal the court ruling that favored the environmental review process used by Ventura County supervisors, city officials said.

“This process went forward without any reference to or concern for impacts on the city of Calabasas,” Calabasas City Atty. Charles Vose said. “They barely even discussed the city. They talk about this as a regional issue, but the major portion of the traffic will go through Calabasas.” Vose said he expects the other plaintiffs will file papers with the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Ahmanson representatives have said Los Angeles County planning officials are trying to use the issue of the roadway extension to try to force Ahmanson to pay for more traffic improvements in the area that could run as high as $18 million.