Development may threaten rare plants

By John Loesing Acorn Staff Writer

PLANT CARE- A Santa Monica Mountains dudleya, a threatened plant species, has been found close to the Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park near the location where new luxury homes are scheduled to be built.

Biologists have discovered a threatened plant species along Mulholland Highway in rural Agoura, the site of a new luxury home development that has stirred controversy among local residents.

Santa Monica Mountains dudleya plants were found next the development on a parcel of land that belongs to the Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park.

Los Angeles County engineers say the parcel needs to be graded to enhance access to the new homes.

The dudleya is a green succulent with delicate blossoms that grows near rock outcrops.

"There definitely are whole scads of dudleya right on the cliff facing the road going nuts right now because of the rain," said Rachel Morris, a Seminole Spring shareholder. "That cliff is pretty much the front of our property that they’re looking to destroy."

According to the federal Endangered Species Act, a threatened classification is given to those animals and plants "likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their ranges."

Calabasas developer James Rasmussen plans to build eight luxury estates next to the road and part of the project includes the widening of Mulholland Highway to bring it up to 55-mph standards.

The estate lots are about 10,000 square feet each.

Before the housing construction can begin, however, Rasmussen must obtain possession of the Seminole Springs parcel so that the road improvements can be made.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors was scheduled this week to discuss the plant finding and how it will affect a proposed eminent domain procedure—a government taking of property—at the development site.

Rasmussen won a Superior Court ruling in August that requires the county either to acquire the parcel by eminent domain so the road can be widened or waive the road improvement altogether.

The court gave the county a Dec. 19 deadline to act on the matter.

"The issue becomes what do we do," said Ginny Kruger, a spokeswoman for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s office.

"One of the things for the county counsel to explore was the feasibility of going back to court to say this what we discovered and we cannot do an adequate environmental review and act on this by the 19th of December," Kruger said.

Some Seminole Springs residents feel that Mulholland Highway doesn’t need to be widened and they hired a traffic consultant to look at the road and determine whether or not current traffic sight lines are safe.

"According to my field measurements and calculations, what is available equates to approximately 43 miles per hour, which I believe is adequate for Mulholland in that area," said Tom Brohard, the consultant.

"They really ought to reexamine what they are requiring," Brohard said.

Rasmussen said current law makes road improvements mandatory for all developers.

The mobile home park also is home to Seminole Springs Hot Springs, an aquifer used by therapeutic healers for almost 100 years. Some residents also say the road widening project could harm the hot springs.