Judge Upholds 3-Year Extension for Ahmanson Ranch Developer : Court: Opponents’ plea for a new environmental report, which could have delayed the $1-billion project for years, is rejected.

An attempt to derail the $1-billion Ahmanson Ranch project has been rejected by a Ventura County judge, who upheld the county’s decision to grant the developer a three-year extension for beginning work on the mini-city in the Simi Hills.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane ruled that the extension given to Ahmanson Land Co. last fall did not involve any major changes in the 3,050-home and golf course development and thus did not warrant a new environmental report demanded by the project’s opponents.

A new report could have delayed the project for years, making it less likely it would ever be built.

“The mere fact that a development agreement is extended by three years is not in itself a ‘changed circumstance,’ ” Lane wrote in her 22-page ruling issued Thursday. “It remains a mixed-use community development, so the EIR’s project description is still accurate.”

Attorneys representing the city of Calabasas and two community groups that filed the lawsuit against the county said they had not had a chance to review the ruling and were still contemplating what their next action would be.

“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Steve Quintanilla, Calabasas deputy city attorney. “I don’t know where we’re going to go from here. It’s too early to say if my clients will want to file an appeal.”

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Rosemary Woodlock, an attorney representing the Agoura Hills-based environmental group Save Open Space, a plaintiff in the case, said the group would probably seek an appeal.

“It doesn’t surprise us,” Woodlock said of Lane’s ruling. “It would be very difficult for a judge who ruled against us before to change direction.”

Woodlock was referring to Lane’s decision last year to strike down a challenge by Save Open Space, the city of Calabasas, the county of Los Angeles and others who had challenged the adequacy of the Ahmanson project’s environmental impact report. That case is now on appeal and is expected to be heard in September.

Woodlock said her clients may seek to have an appeal of Lane’s most recent decision merged with the main environmental case.

Attorneys representing Mountain View Estate Homeowners Assn., the other plaintiff in the case involving the three-year extension, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The three plaintiffs had argued that Ahmanson Land Co. should have been required to conduct a new environmental impact report before the county granted the developer a three-year extension.

They said that a new study was needed because the existing one did not consider changes that have occurred in the surrounding Los Angeles County communities since the project was first approved in 1992. Specifically, the city of Calabasas argued that the environmental review did not take into account changes in its traffic plans.

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The proposed development lies in Ventura County near its border with Los Angeles County.

Ellison Folk, the attorney for the homeowners group, also complained to the judge recently that because Ahmanson’s development partner, Potomac Investment Associates, dropped out of the project last year, the development agreement with the county is no longer valid.

But in her ruling, Judge Lane sided with the county on both issues. She said the developer is not required to conduct a new or supplemental environmental study to examine traffic circulation outside the county.

On the second issue, Lane said that Potomac never had a written agreement with Ahmanson so their partnership was never made formal. She said the county’s development agreement only applied to Ahmanson Land Co.

Ventura County supervisors approved the Ahmanson project on the condition that the developer turn over to park agencies 10,000 acres of mountain land--most of it owned by entertainer Bob Hope--by December, 1995.

So far, only about 3,000 acres, including Hope’s 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch, have been acquired as parkland.

Ahmanson, which plans to dedicate 2,633 acres of its ranch as open space, must deliver two other Hope properties, totaling about 4,700 acres, to park agencies before it can go forward with its development.

After supervisors approved the project, Ahmanson Land Co. was hit with a flurry of lawsuits from surrounding communities that have stalled the project.

As a result of the ongoing litigation, the developer requested the three-year extension from the county.