Council’s Letter Opposes Ahmanson

All five members of the Thousand Oaks City Council have gone on record as opposed to the planned Ahmanson Ranch housing development.

A July 23 letter signed by council members to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors states that the city opposes the 5,433-acre, 3,050-unit project because it would be built in an area that should be classified only for rural, very low-intensity uses.

“We collectively support a request that the county actively seek to explore all reasonable and feasible means to acquire this property as permanent open space,” the letter states.

Although the project, planned about seven miles east of Oak Park, is not within Thousand Oaks, the council is concerned about the affect it could have on air pollution, traffic and demand for public services.

Oak Park will be most affected by the project, particularly the Oak Park Unified School District.

The district has an agreement that the developer will build at least two schools and make improvements to the high school to accommodate more than 1,000 new students the development could bring.

The Ahmanson Land Co. is building the project for Washington Mutual, which took control after it acquired Home Savings. It has elicited opposition from a variety of sources, including the Las Virgenes/Malibu/Conejo Council of Governments, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Mayor Linda Parks said drafting the letter was an easy call for the city.

“Our city originally opposed the General Plan change. This was land that was supposed to be open space, and the city will be impacted by the traffic. I think it’s a very safe decision because you have the cities of Calabasas, Agoura [Hills], Malibu and Westlake [Village] that have already voiced their opposition,” Parks said.

Despite strong opposition, there may be little that can be done to stop the project, said county Supervisor Frank Schillo, who also opposes Ahmanson. Because the county approved the project in 1994, Schillo said, county legal counsel has indicated the county could be vulnerable to legal action if it tried to stop it.

“The answer basically is, no, there is nothing we can do about it,” Schillo said. “There has to be a joint agreement [between the county and the developer]. It is a frustrating thing to say that everyone wants all these changes, but there is nothing we can do.”