Ahmanson Ranch Foes Demand New Study

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should require developers to reexamine the environmental effects of the massive Ahmanson Ranch project before allowing the proposed 3,050-home project to be built, elected officials and residents argued Saturday.

Residents from the west San Fernando Valley and Ventura County joined activists and several area politicians at a public hearing to ask the corps for a new environmental impact study. The 2,800-acre Ventura County development area is adjacent to Los Angeles County, which would bear the brunt of added traffic.

The hearing drew Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and city council members from Calabasas and Agoura Hills.

Representatives from developer Ahmanson Land Co., a subsidiary of Washington Mutual, and several business groups supporting the project also spoke at the hearing. But the crowd of nearly 500 people who packed the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center frequently jeered their statements.

Each of the politicians at the hearing asked for a new and broad reevaluation of Ahmanson Ranch from Washington Mutual, calling the original 1992 environmental report inadequate and out of date. They pointed to concerns about increased traffic on the Ventura Freeway, water flow problems and the recent discovery of two threatened species--the California red-legged frog and the San Fernando Valley spineflower--as reasons for a new report.

“The basic plan is, scrape up the land where the spineflower grows and dump the dirt on the frog,” Sherman said of the building proposal for Ahmanson Ranch. “We’re going to need a complete environmental impact statement in order to evaluate this project.”

Yaroslavsky said extra environmental oversight was needed because the project could damage Malibu Creek and surrounding canyons.

“This is our Yosemite Valley,” Yaroslavsky said. “This is our Yellowstone.”

Another environmental study could considerably slow plans for the project.

Washington Mutual representatives said if the Corps does want an additional environmental study, it should focus on water issues only.

Other environmental concerns about the project should be handled by Ventura County, which would authorize any building plans, said Steven Weston, an attorney for Washington Mutual.

Ventura County supervisors approved Ahmanson Ranch in 1992 after the environmental impact report was released. The proposed development--which would include a golf course, hotel and 400,000-square-foot commercial center--has been the subject of a tempestuous legal and public debate. Although the project is in the Simi Hills, all of its outgoing roads are in Los Angeles County.

The corps will collect written public comments on the project in the next 10 days. It remained unclear Saturday when the agency would decide about a possible new study.

Ahmanson Ranch is expected to fill several tributaries of East Las Virgenes Creek. That would require a permit from the corps because it regulates construction affecting coastal and inland waters and wetlands.

Washington Mutual said both the red-legged frog and the spineflower would be protected under their development proposal.

“We have sought to hold ourselves to high state and federal standards as we have worked toward developing these conservation plans,” said a company statement issued Saturday.

The proposed development has long angered area homeowners. About two dozen circled the community center, carrying signs and chanting slogans directed at Washington Mutual.

Among the opponents who testified Saturday was Nick Quidwai, executive director of Concerned Citizens of Thousand Oaks, who said a recent rainy commute on the 101 to downtown L.A. took him 4 1/2 hours each way. “The traffic is already horrendous,” he said. “With this project it will only get worse.”

However, project supporters said the development would relieve a housing crunch in Ventura County, whose population is expected to grow substantially in coming years.

“There are waiting lists for home rentals,” said Penny Bohannon Boehm, president of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. “Any new development is greeted with lines of folks hoping to get lucky.”

Carolyn Casavan, representing the Woodland Hills-based Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., said Ahmanson Ranch would mean increased sales for area retailers and restaurants. “The residents will be accessing L.A. County businesses,” she said in support of the project.

But many residents said they were not convinced the commercial benefits outweighed possible environmental damage.

Calabasas resident Erik Pontoppidan said he has lived 45 years on a property next to Las Virgenes Creek, which could be affected by the project.

“I know that small changes can have a big effect,” he said. “And these are big changes.”