Timing Is Key for Ahmanson

As in comedy -- and there’s very little of that in the protracted controversy over Ahmanson Ranch -- timing is everything in this development’s planning process.

Jan. 6 motivates the project’s supporters to surge and its opponents to stall.

Because on that day, Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo, who endorses the $2-billion mini-city, leaves office and critic Linda Parks is sworn in, perhaps shifting the board’s majority in favor of Ahmanson’s foes.

On Tuesday, the supervisors will open a public hearing on an environmental study of the Ahmanson Ranch development, which plans for an eventual 3,050 homes on grazing land near Calabasas.

Although the report is focused on the builder’s plan to protect the endangered spineflower and red-legged frog on the project land, the recent discovery of a toxin used in rocket fuel has raised concerns about the safety of water for the golf course.

The developer, Washington Mutual Bank, would like the supervisors to vote as soon as possible to certify the environmental report so construction can begin.

But previous hearings have attracted so many speakers that it is likely the board will continue to hear testimony Dec. 17. If it still can’t get to a vote before its end-of-year recess Dec. 20, it will not be able to take up Ahmanson Ranch until January -- after Schillo has left and Parks has arrived.

And that, opponents think, might force the developer to think twice about whether to press on, risking a negative vote and further delay, or consider a deal to sell the land or turn it over to a land conservancy for huge tax credits.

Supervisor Steve Bennett, a leading anti-sprawl activist and project critic, has asked Washington Mutual to agree to extend the public comment period by nearly four weeks -- until Jan. 28.

“It’s the holiday season,” Bennett said, explaining his reasoning for the extension. The leanings of current and future supervisors are not a factor, he said. “We shouldn’t artificially rush or delay these hearings.”

Predictably, the developer wants to press on.

“We see no good reason for any further delays,” spokesman Tim McGarry said. “The process has already been quite lengthy, and we’d like the board to hear the matter now.”

However long the comment period lasts, many people will want to discuss perchlorate contamination.

The chemical, which has been linked to thyroid problems, has been detected near Ahmanson Ranch and in water wells in Simi Valley. Scientists are unsure whether it migrated from Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory or came from firecrackers, fertilizer, road flares or some other source. No study has linked the perchlorate discoveries to Rocketdyne.

Environmental activists, including Ahmanson Ranch opponents, have seized on the discovery of perchlorate as a reason to study the development further.

Schillo said he does not think the chemical threatens public health. The area’s tap water comes mostly from Northern California, not the ground.

“If it’s a serious problem, then everybody ought to move out of Simi Valley, because there’s a lot of perchlorate in Simi Valley,” Schillo said. The chemical isn’t relevant to the upcoming Ahmanson hearings, he said.

“You can talk about anything you want,” but the environmental study up for review is about “frogs and flowers,” he said. “It has nothing to do with traffic, perchlorate or anything else.”

Supervisor John K. Flynn, the board’s chairman, said he is willing to listen to new information.

“I’ve been in public hearings before, and a good logical argument has been presented that has caught my attention. That could happen here,” he said. “My mind is wide-open.”

Supervisors Judy Mikels, a supporter of the Ahmanson Ranch project, and Kathy Long, whom Ahmanson opponents have identified as a potential swing vote, could not be reached for comment.

Parks said she will be in the audience, to prepare in case the vote is called after she takes office.

The Ahmanson Ranch project, first approved in 1992 by Ventura County supervisors, is on the Los Angeles County line, overlooking the San Fernando Valley.

It would include about 8,000 residents, a town center with 400,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a championship golf course and hotel.

The project survived more than a dozen legal challenges and was ready to break ground until scientists working for the developer discovered rare frogs and flowers on the development site.

Now, three years later, a potent group of opponents, including Hollywood celebrities headed by director Rob Reiner, has joined leading Valley politicians and environmental organizations in a campaign to buy and preserve the ranch as parkland.

Supporters of the project argue that it would fill a dire need for more housing, and that developers should not now be penalized for a change in the political climate since the project was approved 10 years ago.