Developer’s project shot down again
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Celebrating in the aftermath of a recent Superior Court ruling, lawyers for Los Angeles County said they’ve scored "a complete and total victory" against the proposed Malibu Canyon Continental Communities development near Calabasas.

Judge Kenneth Freeman upheld a ruling he made in January that said the $30 million shopping mall should be halted.

Following more than 10 years of administrative wrangling, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors last April denied the development just north of the 101 Freeway between Las Virgenes Road and Lost Hills Road. The supervisors said the project was too intense for the environment and failed to meet the county’s local area plan.

Developer Robert Zuckerman of Woodland Hills took the board’s decision to court, claiming the county unlawfully denied him economic benefits to build on the 200-acre site. He also said the county was slow to certify an environmental impact report (EIR) on the project.

Last August, Judge Freeman dismissed Zuckerman’s request for more than $10 million in damages because of the alleged losses of use on the property. Last week, the judge ruled in favor of the county on the environmental matter.

"The court found that if you deny a project, you don’t have to certify an EIR," said Deborah Fox, an attorney for the county.

The board of supervisors upheld a 1998 decision by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission in which a scaled-down version of the project was rejected. Zuckerman offered to reduce total grading at the rural hillside location from 2 million to 1 million cubic yards, but the supervisors weren’t swayed.

"It’s a total vindication for the county," Fox said. "It was hard fought with some really astronomical claims being made."

Zuckerman, who planned to build up to 40 homes and a 280,000 square-foot shopping center on the western border with Calabasas, called the project a "fine plan" and said it was "consistent" with the county’s own definition of a neighborhood center.

Zev Yaroslavsky, the Third District Supervisor who turned the development into a battle cry for saving the Santa Monica Mountains, couldn’t have disagreed more.

"It’s a classic case of a developer coming in and wanting to upzone just because he wants to make a bundle," Yaroslavsky said. Lawyers for Malibu Canyon didn’t return phone calls.

Zuckerman could still take his case to the Court of Appeals to get a second wind, but with no entitlements to keep investor interest alive, patience for the project appears to be dying.

Zuckerman tried to issue new bonds to prevent a foreclosure, but Superior Court in Sacramento ordered Zuckerman and Pacific Genesis, a San Francisco municipal bond firm, to cease and desist with the financing plan.

In response to a 1997 lawsuit by the California Department of Corporations, the court said Zuckerman and Pacific Genesis defrauded investors when they sold $6 million in bonds to pay for their financially troubled project. According to the suit, Zuckerman deceived investors by not disclosing his company’s delinquent property taxes and faced bankruptcy.