Environmentalists Take a Swing at Golf Course Proposal

Environmentalists condemned plans for an 18-hole golf course in Hill Canyon before a crowd of about 70 at a forum sponsored by the Environmental Defense Center on Monday night.

“Our primary focus is to help people understand the value of Hill Canyon as a natural open-space habitat,” said Alisse Weston, EDC project coordinator of the environmental law firm. “We don’t want any development there, whether it’s this golf course or any other project.”

The project’s developer is the Hill Canyon Recreational Resources Authority, an agency formed by the city of Thousand Oaks and the Conejo Recreation and Parks District. The authority has said it plans to build an environmentally friendly project that will provide enhanced wetlands, improve trails for hiking, horses and cyclists, and add a nature center to the area.

In addition to the golf course, the development would include a combination clubhouse and banquet center. It would cover 284 acres west of Wildwood Park and north of Rancho Conejo Boulevard extending to Santa Rosa Road.

Monday’s event drew a diverse group to the Thousand Oaks Public Library auditorium. Some people were concerned about the wetlands habitat adjacent to Conejo Creek, which runs through the canyon, while others want to protect the area’s wildlife and native plants. Some don’t want to move the existing hiking trails that run along the valley floor, and others opposed the idea of the city spending $20 million of public funds for the project.

“How do we stop this thing?” asked Gary Saderup, an artist and resident of the Santa Rosa Valley.

Thousand Oaks resident Chuck Kuenstle suggested an answer. To create grass-roots opposition to the project, Kuenstle, a member of a group called T.O. Citizens Action Network, offered his organization’s leadership in starting a letter-writing campaign. He also said residents need to show up en masse at future hearings to speak against the project.

Tom Maxwell, a board member of a local chapter of the Sierra Club, said the proposed project would limit rather than enhance recreational opportunities in Hill Canyon. Bird-watchers, hikers, equestrians, joggers, bicyclists, flower lovers and students now use the area, he said, and their access would be restricted by a golf course.

Wildwood Park, east of Hill Canyon, is near its capacity to accommodate its regular attendance and still remain wild, Maxwell said, adding that more open space is needed, not less.

“When a person walks to rest his weary mind and body, he does not wish to meet with business colleagues, politicians, or mothers-in-law,” Maxwell said. “He wants to sit by the stream, under a tree, or atop a cliff and ponder nature, forget the pressures of the day and enjoy what comes naturally. A golf course runs counter to restful enjoyment.”

Biologist Walter Wehtje, who lives in the Santa Rosa Valley, emphasized flooding issues in his presentation. He pointed out that Conejo Creek cuts a channel 200 feet wide in some places along the canyon floor.

With a golf course as a permanent structure, either the impeded creek will flow at a higher velocity and cause downstream erosion or the fairways will be continually flooded. Preventing that would require lining the banks of the creek with cement, which is contrary to promises of constructing an environmentally friendly golf course.

Other speakers included Elliott McClure, president of the Conejo Valley Audubon Society, and Tom Keeney, a member of the California Native Plant Society. They discussed the damage the project would cause to Hill Canyon’s rare or endangered species of birds, such as the yellow-breasted chat and the white tailed kite, and the threatened plants including Lyon’s pentachaeta and Conejo dudleya .

The project’s environmental impact report--a document required by state law examining a development’s effects on natural resources--will soon be recirculated with responses to earlier public comments.

Weston said the Environmental Defense Center will review the new environmental document and submit a new set of comments. The center also plans to schedule an “informational hike,” similar to one it organized last month that drew 30 people--most of whom were inspired to become active in Hill Canyon preservation efforts.

“There are different ways for people to stay involved,” Weston said. “We need to show the city and Parks and Rec that there’s no support for the project.”

Greg Smith, a city senior planner who attended the forum, disagreed that the proposal lacks public support. Not only was the project designed after a series of public workshops, but studies conducted by the city established the need for a golf course, he said.

Furthermore, the majority of the land in Hill Canyon would be left in a natural state, Smith said, and areas for wildlife are incorporated into the golf course design.

Disturbing rare plant habitats will be minimized and archeological resources will be avoided at all times. Wetlands along Conejo Creek will not be degraded but improved, as part of the plan calls for removing nonnative vegetation and planting native plant species, he said.

“We will restore the wetlands to a higher functioning value,” Smith said. “I appreciate [opponents] wanting to leave the area in its natural state, but golf courses are not housing developments.”

The questions about changes to Conejo Creek that were raised by Wehtje will be answered in the revised draft environmental impact report, Smith said, as will all the issues raised when the document was released in August.

“The city has always thought of this as a very environmentally sensitive project,” he said.