Ahmanson Developer Sues Over Road Project

The developer of Ahmanson Ranch filed suit Wednesday against Los Angeles County for failing to allow the removal of 10 oak trees for a planned road extension considered crucial to the project.

Washington Mutual Bank, which hopes to break ground on the 3,050-home Ventura County development next year, contends the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission has delayed hearings on the tree removal at least 15 times in the past eight years.

“We have been very reluctant to initiate legal action against public agencies, but the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission has left us no choice,” said Tim McGarry, spokesman for Washington Mutual.

“The commission’s repeated delays defy reason and fairness,” McGarry said.

“It is precisely this sort of delay that is to blame for the great difficulty responsible builders encounter as they seek to deliver badly needed housing to Californians,” he said.

The company is seeking a court order to force the commission to review the application.

But Peter Gutierrez, a Los Angeles County senior deputy counsel, said it would be irresponsible for the commission to make a decision on the permit application while the Ahmanson Ranch’s environmental documents are being challenged in court. Los Angeles County and city have joined with several jurisdictions in a legal fight to halt the project.

Gutierrez added, however, that he filed a motion Wednesday to have the court determine whether the Planning Commission should consider the tree-removal application anyway.

The county requested a June 24 court date.

Los Angeles County officials have made no secret of their opposition to the project that would be built on a site abutting Woodland Hills, saying it would significantly increase traffic congestion and smog in the already crowded west San Fernando Valley.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted in December to certify a supplemental environmental impact report on the Ahmanson Ranch project, giving Washington Mutual the green light to seek state and federal permits required before construction.

As for the current controversy, the developer first applied for a permit in 1993 to remove the oak trees in the path of the proposed extension of Thousand Oaks Boulevard in unincorporated Los Angeles County.

The boulevard would be a primary access route to the project.

The Los Angeles Department of Regional Planning initially approved the tree-removal permit in 1994 but the decision was appealed to the Planning Commission by the cities of Calabasas and Los Angeles.

Since then, a hearing on the matter has been repeatedly delayed, Washington Mutual officials contend.

The commission had scheduled a hearing this month on the oak tree-removal application, but then last week “abruptly took the scheduled April 16, 2003, hearing date off calendar” indefinitely, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Meanwhile, since 1990, Washington Mutual officials contend, the Los Angeles Planning Commission has approved 139 oak tree permits in the Santa Monica Mountains area and denied an application only once.