Inn and spa developer scores early victory

A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Calabasas resident Brian Boudreau, developer of the Malibu Valley Inn and Spa, in his lawsuit against local resident Mary Hubbard, who wrote an argument against the project that will appear on a sample ballot prior to the November election.

The Calabasas City Council placed a referendum known as Measure C on the Nov. 8 ballot that will ask voters whether or not they approve of the inn and spa.

The ballot measure reads: “Should Calabasas annex 152 acres on Mulholland Highway east of Las Virgenes Road for the Malibu Valley Inn and Spa—a 203-room resort, five estate homes, facilities for swimming, equestrian use, tennis, fitness spa, restaurant, winery, shops, conference rooms and underground parking, as described in the project’s draft environmental impact report—in lieu of up to 81 estate homes on 443 acres if not annexed?”

A sample ballot with both a proponent and opponent statement will be mailed to all voters before the election. Boudreau said the wording in Hubbard’s opposition statement wasn’t factual, so he decided to sue the Calabasas resident.

At issue was the language that Hubbard used in her statement.

“What the judge said was, there’s a lot of leeway . . . in what you can say and what you can’t say because (a ballot statement is) opinion,” Boudreau said. “The judge doesn’t affirm that anything is correct or not correct. All the judge does—and this was all that we asked the judge to do—was correct words like “would” to “could” . . . The judge makes sure that there isn’t any absolute misleading lies in the statement.”

Steven Gambardella, Hubbard’s lawyer, said he’s happy with the revised ballot argument because it gives voters the information they’ll need to make an informed decision.

Boudreau said that while he still thinks portions of the statement are misleading, he feels confident that the ballot statement will read as opinion rather than fact.

Boudreau said he’s pleased that the judge won’t allow the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation to be listed as an opponent to the inn and spa, which Hubbard had wanted. The judge said LVHF cannot be on the ballot as an opponent to the inn and spa since the organization’s vote regarding the development was taken via e-mail and not in person and wasn’t representative of the membership at large.

LVHF can’t unanimously oppose the inn and spa because one of its member groups, the Calabasas Park Homeowners Association, is in favor of the project, Boudreau said.

Opponents say the inn and spa would be too intense for the area and they worry about the ongoing urbanization of the Santa Monica Mountains. The project would be built on Mulholland Highway just east of Las Virgenes Road.

Some residents say they prefer the inn and spa because it only requires the removal of 350,000 cubic yards of dirt. By comparison, the 81-home housing development at the site would displace 3.5 million cubic yards of dirt.