Judge Clears Path for Road Extension

Despite months of legal battles and widespread protest from residents, a Ventura County Superior Court judge has effectively put an end to the city’s fight to stop the extension of Borchard Road.

The ruling Wednesday by Judge Glen Reiser is expected to allow continuation of the thoroughfare at its planned 12% grade, steeper than the 5% grade allowed by city codes.

“We’re obviously going to be talking to our council about their options, and whether it’s advisable to file some kind of appeal,” Assistant City Atty. Jim Friedl said.

“But barring a successful appeal, or a negotiated agreement, the road will be built the way it is now.”

The road will be one of only two traffic arteries feeding the 2,350-unit, $700-million Dos Vientos housing project.

The City Council in 1996 had agreed to allow the road at a 12% grade, but public protest over traffic and other safety concerns prompted the council to issue a stop-work order last July, provoking the developers to file suit.

The court eventually ruled the city could not halt the grading, but city officials still held approval power over the road’s street improvement plan, which represented the city’s last approval on the project.

“We’re very pleased, we think its just unfortunate that we had to do this to get the city to do what they should have done in the first place,” said attorney Mark Allen, who represents Operating Engineers Pension Trust, one of the project’s two developers.

“One would hope that after being told they’re wrong twice that they would get the message.”

Allen said paving of the road would begin “as soon as we can start work” and the road completed and opened shortly thereafter.

Arlen Miller of Calabasas-based Miller Brothers Associates, the other development partner, said he had not yet conferred with his attorneys about dropping the balance of his lawsuit.