Dos Vientos Developer Gets PR Aid

A developer sometimes criticized for trying to muzzle foes of his massive Newbury Park project with threats of lawsuits has apparently switched tactics, hiring a public relations firm that has rallied support for other large developments in Ventura County.

Arlen Miller, managing partner of Courtly Homes Inc., the company that is poised to develop about half of the 2,350-home Dos Vientos Ranch, said earlier this week that he hired Carl Terzian Associates, the public relations firm that most recently helped a developer win overwhelming community support for the 652-home Long Canyon project in Simi Valley.

That project was so popular that residents joined a fan club urging city officials to push through the plan.

Miller said that much misinformation has been spread about Dos Vientos and that the project will be a model community that fits in with the needs of the city.

“It is a good project, and we have a good story to tell,” Miller said. Courtly Homes hired the public relations firm to “spread the truth and the facts” about Dos Vientos, Miller said.

The move signals a new approach for Courtly Homes, whose foes accuse it of having used heavy-handed tactics to secure approval for Dos Vientos.

But some in the community believe it’s too late for Courtly Homes, which still faces several public hearings on different phases of the project, to try to change Dos Vientos’ image.

“I wish the [public relations] firm luck,” said Michelle Koetke, chairwoman of Residents to Preserve Newbury Park, a group that has opposed Dos Vientos since its inception. “What do they hope to accomplish? This project is widely loathed.”

Councilwoman Linda Parks was also critical of Courtly Homes’ public relations effort.

“It doesn’t seem respectful to have to sell your project,” Parks said. “What I prefer is a project that sells itself. If we have negative impacts, we don’t need spin doctors, we need to fix the project.”

Just two months ago, Courtly Homes attorney Gary Leven threatened lawsuits against Koetke and another Dos Vientos foe, Dan Del Campo, a former City Council candidate, for distributing fliers that the developer said were inaccurate and slanderous. Leven also sent a letter to City Atty. Mark Sellers expressing concerns about inappropriate and potentially slanderous comments made by then-Planning Commissioner Parks.

“I have never blasted the developer,” Parks said. “I was just talking about the impact [of the project]. They were afraid that a discussion of the impacts would negatively affect the project.”

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Courtly Homes’ most recent lawsuit threat was aimed at the city. In a claim filed with city officials, Courtly Homes attorney Chuck Cohen said the city could be sued for damages and be liable for more than $1.5 million unless it rescinds a decision to delete plans for 16 housing units from a Dos Vientos tract.

The City Council deleted the planned homes at a September hearing in which the developer requested approval for changes to a Dos Vientos tract. Part of the developer’s argument for the redesigned tract was that it had fewer housing units.

The council approved the modifications requested by Courtly Homes but deleted the units from the plan to make sure the developer would not place the units somewhere else within the project.

But after the council approved the changes, Courtly Homes argued that the development agreement gave it the right to move the units somewhere else within the development and filed the claim.

The move angered city officials, including Mayor Judy Lazar, who voted to approve the changes to the tract.

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Dos Vientos has been a controversial project since it was conceived more than a decade ago. Newbury Park residents and environmentalists believe that the mini-city will destroy the gentle hillsides on the far western edge of town. The development, critics say, violates state and city environmental laws and should be downsized.

But the city has been locked into a development agreement with Courtly Homes and Operating Engineers, the project’s other developer, since 1988.

The project faces several pending lawsuits from the Sierra Club and Save Open Space, a Conejo Valley environmental group.

While acknowledging that Courtly Homes has an image problem, Miller said the threats of lawsuits against the city and residents were justified.

“I absolutely support anyone’s 1st Amendment right to speak,” Miller said. “What we found intolerable was people saying slanderous things.”

As far as the claim against the city over the removal of the 16 units, Miller said the council had unilaterally violated the development agreement.

“What happened at that meeting is that we had our rights to transfer the units revoked,” Miller said. “It is a disagreement [with the city]. We’ll have to sit down and resolve it.”

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Despite maintaining that his relationship with the city has been impeccable, the embattled developer has been at odds with city officials for some time.

In 1993, Courtly Homes was found in default on more than $800,000 in fees it owed the city. The city and the developer have been in closed-door arbitration over the default, and a resolution is expected soon.

“We have been ready to pay the city,” Miller said. Without giving any details of the secret negotiations with the city, Miller said he was surprised that it has taken so long to resolve this issue.

But foes of Dos Vientos have latched onto the Courtly Homes default in hopes of downsizing the project.

Koetke and others have argued that by defaulting on the fees, Courtly Homes broke its contract with city officials and the city, in turn, should be able to reshape and reduce the size of the development.

Many Dos Vientos foes show up at virtually every public hearing on the project to voice their opposition before the Planning Commission and the City Council.

In stark contrast, the Long Canyon development in Simi Valley was cheered by a group of more than 60 people who appeared at public hearings on the project wearing buttons that proclaimed, “Friends of Long Canyon.” The group, whose members bombarded city officials with letters of support for the project, was put together by Carl Terzian Associates. The project won unanimous approval from the Simi Valley City Council earlier this month.

Miller hopes the firm will do the same for him in Thousand Oaks. He decided to hire the firm now that Courtly Homes is poised to begin grading and then home construction.

Miller hopes to emphasize the good aspects of the project: the diversity of housing types, the 1,200 acres of open space, the flood control basin, a nine-acre commercial site and an elementary school.

“I want to put out the message about what is going to be out there,” said Miller, who added that he would also be accessible to concerned members of the community. “There are a lot of people out there who just don’t know.”