CALABASAS : Appeal Considered on Road-Widening

The Calabasas City Council is expected to vote tonight whether to appeal a judge’s decision to allow widening of Thousand Oaks Boulevard to accommodate the Ahmanson Ranch housing project.

City Manager Charles Cate said the city attorney would be consulted on the matter.

The council will announce its decision after the closed session, which will be attended by City Atty. Casey Vose, Cate said. The council meets at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 26135 Mureau Road.

Ahmanson Land Co. wants to build 3,050 residences, two golf courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial space in the hills southeast of Simi Valley on the border of Los Angeles County.

Ahmanson sued Calabasas after the city refused to act on the developer’s request to widen from two to four lanes a quarter-mile section of Thousand Oaks Boulevard. The city has argued that a wider road would add thousands of cars and disrupt traffic.

The ruling was issued Aug. 8 by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne.

“We would like the city to process the application. We think it’s a valid request, and the court has ruled that it’s a valid request, and we hope they would process it,” Mary Trigg, a spokeswoman for Ahmanson Land Co., said Tuesday.

Calabasas has already appealed another Superior Court ruling, which concluded the project’s developers have done everything possible to minimize the impact of the project on the environment and quality of life.

That court decision came after Calabasas and eight other parties, including the city and county of Los Angeles, challenged the validity of an environmental impact review of the project.

“We didn’t agree with the decision, and we still think our original points are correct,” Cate said.

The lawsuits have stalled the controversial development, which was approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors more than two years ago.