Report Says Project Threatens Habitat

An environmental impact report released Thursday shows that a proposed Newbury Park residential development would unavoidably destroy 563 acres of natural habitat.

No endangered species or plants, however, would be displaced by the final phase of the Operating Engineers section of Dos Vientos, according to the report. Operating Engineers is one of two developers building on the sprawling 2,338-acre ranch near the Conejo Grade that will eventually contain 2,350 residences.

More than 200 homes are already under construction at Dos Vientos by Operating Engineers. The report released Thursday addresses another phase of the project--584 residential units.

The entire project was approved in 1987, but individual environmental impact studies are being submitted for each phase of the development. A lawsuit by the Sierra Club aimed at stopping the project is still in the appeals process.

Seven plant species that rate “special status” by the federal government are found on the proposed building site, according to the report. But those plants are not considered threatened.

Wildlife will be displaced, but City Planner Greg Smith said the developer will mitigate that by donating open space to the city.

Operating Engineers is asking for an amendment to a previously approved plan to extend Borchard Road into the development as a four-lane highway. Instead, the developer wants to make the road two lanes and reduce the grading into the hillside.

“It is a good change,” Smith said. “I think that the residents and everyone in the community would like to see as little grading as possible.”