Neighbors Fight Nudist Couple’s Property Plans

Tired of the group nudity and pornographic filming that go on there, neighbors are trying to block building plans on a ranch owned by a former maverick candidate for the Board of Supervisors.

Neighbors aired their protests Thursday at a county resource management agency hearing on the application filed by Carter Ward, 55, a retired civil engineer, and his wife, Maureen, 46, a former sex therapist.

The Wards, who are nudists, said they just want to extend electricity to a tennis court, spa and tiki bar on their 21-acre property, known as Dry Gulch Ranch, tucked away in a Malibu enclave just inside the Ventura County line. They only want to enjoy their property with friends, they said.

But neighbors said the Wards’ request is nothing more than an extension of their profitable hobby, which has added an undesirable element to the neighborhood of million-dollar homes on a tree-covered hillside a mile from the Pacific Ocean.

Neighbors described bright lights, big trucks, noise and an influx of nude guests.

Since the early 1990s, the Wards have offered their ranch as a filming location for everything from modeling shoots to adult films and a documentary on John Wayne.

Taping for at least 10 adult films has been done at the ranch since last summer, according to the county’s film permitting department.

Some neighbors don’t like what they see as the commercialization of the rural area. John DiVito said that if Carter Ward could, he would “rent every chair, every cabana” on the property.

Others said that if the Wards are going to keep allowing the adult film crews to use the property, they wish it would be less obvious. “I have a family and two children that still live at home,” said Steve Wells, president of the neighborhood landowners association. “This is a family neighborhood and he’s in direct view from my house.”

Wells said he has seen nudity only from afar, but other neighbors claimed to have seen naked men and women from their driveways and the road that goes past the Wards’ property.

Carter Ward shrugged off criticism Thursday, saying he is just a good-natured Texan who is trying to enjoy the wide-open spaces and the modifications he has made to his property since he bought it in 1979.

The Wards said many of the neighbors opposing them have ulterior motives; they are angry because Maureen Ward, treasurer of the local landowners’ association, took several neighbors to court for failing to pay their road maintenance fees.

Carter Ward said he is applying for the proper permits so that the ranch will be up to code; he also has planted trees and is building a privacy fence to ease neighbors’ concerns. County film officials said that in the future the Wards will need to give 48 hours notice before any adult scenes are filmed.

The county resource agency did not rule on the application Thursday.

The comment period will remain open until July 15.

Maureen Ward, meanwhile, is furious with her critics. She said most neighbors have no problem with the ranch. She described the critics as “renegades,” many of whom are in violation of codes themselves, don’t pay road fees, let their dogs run wild onto the Wards’ property and otherwise fall short of the expectations she has for the neighborhood.

Asked about allowing the filming of pornography on her ranch, Maureen Ward said, “We’re sexually liberated people. . . . If that’s what keeps people happy in their married or single life, more power to them.”

Anyone who has seen her nude from the road must have been using binoculars, she said.

A self-described advocate of property owners’ rights, Carter Ward ran unsuccessfully for county supervisor in 1994. He finished last among five candidates for the 2nd District seat, with 5% of the vote, or 1,086 votes. Frank Schillo won the election.