Judge orders L.A. County to hear Ahmanson oak tree permit application

Judge orders L.A. County to hear Ahmanson oak tree permit application

By John Loesing

Acorn Staff Writer

A long-delayed hearing on the removal of 10 oaks trees for Ahmanson Ranch must be heard by the end of October, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled last week.

Ahmanson Land Co. filed a lawsuit last year seeking to force the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission to act on its oak tree permit. Ahmanson requested a permit to remove the oak trees 10 years ago. Permission was granted in 1994, but an appeal was filed by the cities of Los Angeles and Calabasas that delayed the tree removal.

The commission had taken the appeal off its calendar at least 15 times, according to Tim McGarry, a spokesman for Washington Mutual, the project developer.

"It is a step forward," McGarry said. "They won’t be able to delay it any further—they are now under court order to make a decision."

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs ordered planning commissioners to hear the Ahmanson oak tree case and come to a decision by Oct. 31.

"The suit did not seek to compel a decision one way or another, just that the planning commission complete the hearing and make a decision," McGarry said. "I will not speculate as to how the commission will decide the appeal, but must point out that since 1990, the commission has granted 139 permits in the Santa Monica Mountains area, allowing for the removal of 3,100 oak trees, while denying only one permit," McGarry said.

The oak trees block the southern entrance to the 3,050-home development near Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Mountain Gate Drive on Ahmanson’s border with the city of Calabasas. The developer promised to replace the trees on a 2 to 1 basis, in accordance with county law.

The planning commission had said it needed more environmental review before granting the permit.

The 2,800-acre project was originally approved in 1992, but when Ventura County followed with a green light last December to build the first 715 homes, several surrounding communities responded with another lawsuit—one of more than a dozen legal actions that have been filed over the years concerning issues of land use, water rights, plant and animal protection, and traffic.

Last month, the state approached Ahmanson Ranch officials about selling the development into permanent open space. Washington Mutual representatives said no deal had been struck.