East Ventura County Residents Get Their Say on 2 Projects

Ventura County supervisors moved their meeting to Thousand Oaks this week hoping to hear from more east county residents--and they got an earful.

About 45 people asked to address supervisors Tuesday night, a sharp increase from the half dozen or so who typically come before the board during regular Tuesday morning meetings in Ventura. Twenty-seven made it to the lectern before the meeting ended after midnight.

“This is our opportunity to express our feelings to the board,” Thousand Oaks resident Jody Heyes said. “We need more contact with them, and it’s difficult to do when they meet during working hours.”

Supervisors agreed this year to hold several meetings at night and at different locations throughout the county, hoping to increase access for residents who cannot make the weekly meeting at the Hall of Administration in Ventura.

Dozens of east county residents took advantage of the evening meeting at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza to slam a residential development at Ahmanson Ranch and efforts by the city to build a dam at Lang Ranch.

Supervisor Frank Schillo, whose district is closest to those projects, was targeted by several critics who demanded that he represent their interests.

“I know I can count on [Supervisor Steve] Bennett’s vote,” one resident said. “I don’t know what Mr. Schillo has been up to lately.”

The Ahmanson Ranch project would put 3,000 homes on more than 2,800 acres just west of the Los Angeles County line. Critics say the project, being developed by Washington Mutual, will tax the environment, overcrowd schools and dump most of its traffic into Los Angeles County neighborhoods.

“We demand an accurate and up-to-date traffic study,” shouted Joe Behar, a San Fernando Valley resident and president of the West Valley Community Coalition.

“We’re going to be at gridlock,” charged Sue Boecker, an Oak Park resident and former planning commissioner in Thousand Oaks.

Others objected to the Lang Ranch Dam project, which would require removing oak trees. Some wore pins depicting a red slash over a saw. Thousand Oaks resident Suzanne Ducket made a giant version of the sign and asked supervisors to hang it at the Ventura County Government Center. That, Ducket said, would show residents that the board was against destroying trees, “whether it’s cutting them down or drowning them.”

During a break, Schillo defended his record, saying he never voted for the Ahmanson Ranch project, which was approved before he was a supervisor.

“It’s not exactly logical; it’s political,” Schillo said of some speakers. “Some people want to label me when I haven’t even voted on [these issues].”

Schillo said he hasn’t made up his mind on the Ahmanson project, but if it comes before the board again, he would consider opposing it because of concerns about traffic congestion.

“I’m not sure even with mitigation, even with expanding traffic lanes, we’d be able to handle it,” Schillo said.

The dam, Schillo added, is a city issue. The county merely has a contract with the city to build the dam, and it’s up to municipal officials to go forward with the project or investigate alternatives.

Despite what was at times a contentious meeting, Schillo and other supervisors said they were pleased with the turnout. Supervisor John K. Flynn, whose district is based in Oxnard, said the number of speakers shows the need to rotate times and places of the meetings more often.

“It demonstrates there is a need to get out and talk with people,” Flynn said. “And it explodes the myth people aren’t interested.”

Night meetings do carry a slight additional expense, mostly for the mileage of employees who are required to attend the off-site events. That comes to about $350, according to county estimates. Supervisors, most of whom worked a full day before attending the nearly six-hour meeting, said the extra hours proved exhausting.

Still, supervisors are hoping to hold at least one meeting at a different location within the county every three months. The weekly meeting returns to Ventura on Tuesday.