Ahmanson gets more public hearings in Ventura

Ten years after voting to approve the Ahmanson Ranch project, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors opened hearings Tuesday to discuss the supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) and whether they should approve or deny plans for the first phase of the project.

Ahmanson would begin initially with construction of 700 homes and apartments. The project has been stalled for a decade due to litigation from opponents and because the endangered San Fernando spineflower and the California red-legged frog were found on the ranch.

The first day of hearings attracted a long line of project advocates and opponents who addressed their views on the project. Opponents—including former President Bill Clinton through a telephone conversation—are lobbying the supervisors to extend the scope of the SEIR on grounds that unresolved issues remain, mainly traffic and water quality.

Critics said the traffic study hasn’t been updated since 1992, adding that it’s outdated. The discovery of perchlorate in a property water well, a substance known to cause thyroid cancer, complicates the approval, opponents said. They also cited added pollution to Malibu Creek and the ocean, an overworked water-treatment plant, an inability to handle increased sewer demands and other water quality issues. The problems, opponents said, require more information which makes the existing SEIR inadequate.

The board will continue to hear testimony next week.

Protesters hope that the supervisors won’t not vote on the matter until after the first of the year when Linda Parks will be seated on the board. Parks is an outspoken project opponent.

Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which inherited the project with the bank purchased the parent company of Home Savings in 1998, is seeking to build 3,050 homes, a pair of golf courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial space on 2,800 acres north of Calabasas.

—John Phane