Foes of Ahmanson Project Sue Over Open Space

Opponents of the sprawling Ahmanson Ranch housing project said they filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that Ventura County planners were negligent when they excluded the project’s open-space property from a subdivision analysis.

Rosemary Woodlock, an attorney representing Save Open Space, said she filed suit in Ventura County Superior Court arguing that the county should have included the open-space portion in the analysis because it will be developed.

Ahmanson representatives and officials from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to allow developers to draw water from the open-space portion.

Woodlock said that agreement provides for the construction of as many as 18 pipelines, six wells, pumping stations and treatment facilities.

“The real issue here is that the public isn’t getting what it bargained for,” she said. “What’s been done here is completely wrong and egregious.”

Woodlock said she plans to ask the county Board of Supervisors to require a new environmental impact report for the 3,050-home project that studies the effect of the water-pumping operation on the Las Virgenes and Malibu Creek watersheds.

Conservancy officials said that while developers were given access to the water, those plans were included in the initial approval of the project a decade ago.

“What’s happening is exactly what was approved, but I think [SOS] is a little misinformed,” conservancy official Rory Skei said. “They have permission to use one existing well on the property.”