Woman Sued Over Ballot Argument

A Calabasas woman who volunteered to write the sample ballot argument against a controversial 152-acre resort and conference center planned next to sensitive Santa Monica Mountains parkland has been sued by the project’s developer.

A Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit accuses homemaker Mary Hubbard of making false and misleading statements about the project, which developer Brian Boudreau hopes to build in a valley between Malibu and Calabasas.

“I think this is a blatant attempt to intimidate me and anybody else who may voice an opinion against this development,” said Hubbard, 45, who heads her neighborhood’s Malibu Canyon Community Assn.

Boudreau could not be reached for comment. But his lawyer, Stanley W. Lamport, said the Aug. 15 lawsuit, which also names City Clerk Robin Parker as a defendant, had to be filed to protect his client’s rights under the state’s Election Code.

The developer hopes to construct 203 “guest units” -- hotel rooms, villas and executive suites -- along with a swimming and tennis club, a restaurant, wine-tasting facility and boutiques at his proposed Malibu Valley Inn and Spa.

It would be built near the intersection of Mulholland Highway and Las Virgenes Road.

But to do it he needs to annex the unincorporated Los Angeles County site into the adjoining city of Calabasas.

Critics argue that the development would be out of place in a rural area that abuts Malibu Creek State Park and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area lands.

Taxpayers recently paid $35 million to acquire the former Soka University property across the street from Boudreau’s site for use as the recreation area’s headquarters.

The Calabasas City Council ordered a Nov. 8 public advisory vote on whether the annexation should occur.

Hubbard offered to write the sample ballot argument in opposition to the annexation.

Because the city scheduled the election without approving a final environmental impact report, Hubbard came up with her own review of the project for the ballot argument, she said.

In it, she cites what she described as “even worse traffic backups and smog” along busy two-lane Las Virgenes Road, which becomes Malibu Canyon Road as it snakes into the canyon toward the beach.

Hubbard criticized the project as being twice the size of the Commons shopping center in Calabasas and stated that Boudreau could “sell the property immediately” to someone else with even more onerous development intentions.

Boudreau’s lawsuit demands the removal of “the false and misleading material from the opposition argument.”

It also asks that Boudreau be reimbursed for the cost of bringing his lawsuit and for his attorney fees.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Calabasas area, labeled the lawsuit “intimidation.”

Sandi Levin, Calabasas assistant city attorney, said the city would abide by whatever the court orders.

Meanwhile, Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said Hubbard probably would be shielded by a state law aimed at preventing suits that attempt to stifle public debate.

“This is the kind of communication that is at the core of 1st Amendment protection,” Scheer said.

“It is speech about a local political issue.”