Stand Firm on Newhall Ranch

Can Ventura County play immovable object to the irresistible force of Newhall Ranch? How hard should it try? Those questions face the Ventura County Board of Supervisors as it steps up lobbying efforts to further delay and downsize the huge project.

As Newhall Ranch took two more steps toward groundbreaking last week, the board voted to enlist the governor and a platoon of state and federal agencies to make sure Ventura County’s concerns are addressed. It deferred until April 6 a decision on whether to reinforce its lobbying with litigation.

As battles go, this is a big one. Newhall Ranch is the largest planned development in Los Angeles County history. The project was proposed five years ago by Newhall Land & Farming Co., and has been fought vigorously ever since. The biggest issue is water. Because the developer has not identified a source of water for Newhall Ranch’s projected 70,000 thirsty residents, Ventura County officials fear the project could suck the fertile Santa Clara Valley dry, jeopardizing citrus orchards that produce 400,000 tons of lemons and oranges each year.

Opposition from Ventura County and environmental groups has won some concessions. Although some further downsizing may be won, it is unlikely that Newhall Ranch can be stopped altogether.

As with Ahmanson Ranch, a mirror-image situation in which Ventura County approved a development that benefits itself while sticking Los Angeles County with the traffic and pollution, Newhall Ranch offers design features that are better than they might be. Homes would be clustered in communities, with shops, affordable housing and parkland throughout.

The Ventura County supervisors are right to do whatever they can to ensure that Newhall Ranch complies with all laws and mitigates its impacts. We hope that can be done through political and regulatory means, without draining the public treasury in a long-shot legal battle.