Dos Vientos Gets OK for Steeper Road

Reversing a Planning Commission decision made one day earlier, the City Council approved building a steeper road into the Dos Vientos Ranch project with the condition that developers open several scenic trails by November.

Council members voted 3 to 2 early Wednesday morning to allow the Operating Engineers Fund to build an extension of Borchard Road so that it will more closely conform to the hill it would pass over. Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski voted against the changes.

Under the original plans, the access road would have been built with a 5% incline, requiring massive grading of the hillside. Roughly 3.5 million cubic yards of earth would have to be removed, leaving behind huge cuts in the hillside akin to those at the Conejo Grade and Santa Susana Pass.

Council members agreed to allow the developers to build a much steeper road, at some places up to a 12% grade. For comparison, parts of the Conejo Grade are at 15% grade, according to city officials.

The steeper road will save Dos Vientos Ranch’s two developers, Operating Engineers and Courtly Homes, $1 million to $4 million, according to an estimate by Eric Taylor of VTN West Inc., the land planners hired for the project.

But as part of that concession, the City Council demanded Operating Engineers open three hiking and equestrian trails through their property by Nov. 1--most notably a section of the De Anza Trail, a historic 1,200-mile route taken by the Juan Bautista De Anza expedition of 1776.

“The community has seen zero benefit from something that was supposed to be a big community benefit,” Mayor Andy Fox said of the trails.

The De Anza expedition brought 240 colonists from Mexico across the Colorado Desert and along the West Coast to found the city of San Francisco. The path they took was designated a National Historic Trail by President George Bush in 1990. It is currently being renovated by the National Park Service.

In 1988, the City Council approved plans by Operating Engineers and Courtly Homes to build 2,360 homes at Dos Vientos Ranch. The hilly, panoramic property was once owned by Malcolm Clark, the designer of the Snap-On Tool line and a former head tool and die maker for automobile magnate Henry Ford.

But the developers have yet to complete the project, and were seeking some changes to their development agreement.

*

In addition to the steeper road, Operating Engineers asked the council for permission to build part of the Borchard Road extension as a two-lane road instead of the four-lane road it agreed to build eight years ago. Taylor said Tuesday night, however, that his client was not as concerned with the number of lanes, and council members voted unanimously against plans for a narrower road.

The City Council also approved an updated environmental impact report for the project, a detailed plan for a 668-lot subdivision within Dos Vientos, and a proposal to build an equestrian center and a community park on the ranch. The Planning Commission approved those items early Tuesday morning.

Several residents asked the council to reduce the size of Dos Vientos as part of its negotiations with the developers.

“Both developers will benefit from the [road] change,” said Michelle Koettke of the community group Residents to Preserve Newbury Park. “They will save millions, yet they don’t want to take back any units.”

But City Atty. Mark Sellers told the council the density of the project was not open for discussion, because the number of homes had been decided years ago.

Councilman Mike Markey said he supported Operating Engineers’ request for a steeper road because cutting through the hillside would tarnish the beauty of Newbury Park.

*

“I’m really concerned about the environmental impacts to this hill,” Markey said. “I think it would be hypocritical of us to let that happen, when here we are doing all these things to protect our ridgelines.”

Several residents disagreed, however, saying that a steeper road may look nicer, but would lead to safety problems for children and others trying to cross Borchard Road. Cypress Elementary School is nearby, and some residents told the council that up to 40% of the students cross Borchard Road, between Reino Road and Los Vientos Drive, to attend classes.

“What is going on here?” said Trish Kellogg. “You sell this project to the community with four lanes and a 5% grade eight years ago. But suddenly the cuts are so big we can’t do it. Didn’t anyone notice this back then? I think they’re snookering us,” she said of the developers.

According to Art Minazzoli, a 26-year Newbury Park resident, the true damage to the beauty of Dos Vientos Ranch would not be the scars in the hillside but the development itself.

“It’s so small compared to the ugliness of all those homes,” he said.