Ahmanson Ranch Developer Gets OK on Road Extension : Planning: Work to take Thousand Oaks Boulevard into Ventura County will not begin until several lawsuits are settled.

A hearing officer Tuesday granted the developer of the giant Ahmanson Ranch housing development permission to extend the Los Angeles County portion of Thousand Oaks Boulevard across the Ventura County line, but not until several lawsuits against the project are resolved.

The ruling left both sides claiming victory.

“We’re pleased,” said Steve Weston, an attorney for the Ahmanson Land Ranch Co., which wants to build 3,050 dwellings, two golf courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial space southeast of Simi Valley on the border of Los Angeles County.

“It’s a road to nowhere at this point,” countered Steve Craig, the environmental coordinator for the city of Calabasas, which has joined the city and county of Los Angeles in filing lawsuits against the project. “This approval has no significance because the developer can’t build anything and can’t use it in court to show that progress has been made on the project.”

Opponents, including the environmental group, Save Our Space, said they may appeal Tuesday’s decision by Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning hearing officer Ray Ristic to the Regional Planning Commission. “If this project goes through, the 101 will become worse than the 405 freeway,” said Siegfried Othmer, a member of Save Open Space who lives in Sherman Oaks.

After a brief hearing, Ristic gave the Ahmanson company permission to extend Thousand Oaks Boulevard from Mountain Gate Drive in Los Angeles County across the Ventura County line, a distance of 1,000 feet. Ristic also approved the removal of 10 oak trees, but withheld the permit to do so until the litigation is resolved and the developer has gotten a separate permit to grade the road.

The lawsuits have stalled the controversial Ahmanson development, which was approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors more than two years ago on the condition that the developer acquire and turn over to state and federal park agencies nearly 10,000 acres of mountain land, most of it owned by entertainer Bob Hope. Ristic said he was obligated to presume the environmental report on the project, also approved by the Ventura panel, is adequate unless the courts decide otherwise.

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The Thousand Oaks Boulevard extension, on the south side of the project, would be one of two main entrances to the development. The other, on the east side, would link Thousand Oaks Boulevard with Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills, increasing daily vehicle trips on Victory from 1,250 to an estimated 19,200.

Nine plaintiffs, including Los Angeles County, sued to reopen the environmental review process. But on March 4, a Ventura judge upheld the Board of Supervisors’ decision and ruled that the development’s environmental impact report complied with state guidelines.

Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles and Calabasas plan to appeal the court ruling, said Ken Bernstein, an aide to Councilwoman Laura Chick, whose west San Fernando Valley district would bear the brunt of the traffic increases.