Moradian takes case against Parks to state attorney general




PUBLIC-PRIVATE BATTLE—Supervisor Linda Parks, at left, is facing a legal challenge from Shawn Moradian, right, over her efforts to dissuade the Thousand Oaks City Council from allowing mixed-use development on his family’s 37-acre property near Borchard Road and the 101 Freeway. Acorn file photos

PUBLIC-PRIVATE BATTLE—Supervisor Linda Parks, at left, is facing a legal challenge from Shawn Moradian, right, over her efforts to dissuade the Thousand Oaks City Council from allowing mixed-use development on his family’s 37-acre property near Borchard Road and the 101 Freeway. Acorn file photos

A landowner is asking the state attorney general’s office to investigate Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks for her role in trying to prevent the development of his family’s land near Borchard Road and the 101 Freeway.

Shawn Moradian has enlisted the aid of attorney Barry Groveman, a former Calabasas City Council member and mayor, to petition Attorney General Robert Bonta to look into whether Parks’ actions surrounding the parcel should disqualify her from public service.

In a Sept. 21 letter to Bonta, Groveman says Parks’ dual roles as supervisor and member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy are incompatible, arguing that the longtime elected official is using the two seats to violate the Moradian family’s constitutional rights.

“To find that two offices are incompatible, it is not necessary that a conflict has actually occurred; it is sufficient that a conflict may occur in the regular operation of the statutory plan,” Groveman writes.

Parks said the complaint was “completely meritless” and the latest attempt by Moradian to punish her for speaking out against his plans for the vacant 37-acre parcel, which include a mix of apartments and commercial uses.

The supervisor and landowner have been involved in a dispute since Parks took to social media earlier this year to oppose a recommendation by City of Thousand Oaks staff that the property’s designation be changed from single-family residential to mixed use.

The county holds a flood easement over the city property that won’t allow it to be developed unless three out of five supervisors agree to lift it.

“He’s concerned that I may have a vote regarding his property and he doesn’t want me to vote, and so he wants me removed,” Parks said. “His Plan A was the recall attempt against me that he supported, and now that it failed his Plan B is trying to sue to get me off the board.”

Even after the council voted 3-2 in favor of the change, Moradian pursued multiple public records requests—from the city, county and conservancy—seeking all internal communications related to the parcel.

In documents provided by the conservancy, Moradian uncovered a May 4 email reply sent from longtime conservancy Deputy Director Paul Edelman to Parks stating that Moradian needed to “suffer more” to get to a point where he would offer the land at the end of Alice Drive for “fair market value.”

The conservancy has in the past attempted to negotiate a sale with Moradian, but the parties were not able to reach an agreement; however, the state organization has kept the property on its acquisition list.

The Edelman email is cited multiple times in Groveman’s letter to the attorney general.

“Within minutes of receiving Mr. Edelman’s ‘suffer more’ email, Supervisor Parks responded by stating: ‘Would it be appropriate to comment on the property as proposed for development in the city’s General Plan Update that’s coming to the council for decision May 18 and 25?’” Groveman writes. “Supervisor Parks appears not to have admonished Mr. Edelman, in any way, for his remark in her email response back to Mr. Edelman.”

Confronted with the email in July, Parks put the blame on Edelman, saying she did not condone his comments. She told the Acorn this week that receiving an email is not a crime.

“It wasn’t my email,” she said.

Groveman argues that the email shows Parks’ “conflict of interest.”

“Ms. Parks used her positions in an unlawful attempt to devalue and block development of one of the last remaining housing opportunity sites in the city,” the letter says.

County counsel responds

In a Sept. 24 letter to the attorney general, County Counsel Tiffany North says the government code referenced by Groveman allows for simultaneous holding of offices that are compelled or expressly authorized by law.

North says the conservancy’s bylaws state that one of its nine voting members must either be a member of the Thousand Oaks City Council or a member of the Board of Supervisors. Parks has served in that role since shortly after she was elected to the board in 2001.

“As to the rest of Mr. Groveman’s letter, the county disagrees with his narrative,” she says. “Supervisor Parks’ actions at both the conservancy and the county have been in accordance with the law.”

Parks said the entire issue comes down to motivation.

“Mr. Moradian is approaching the easement as if it’s a political problem, but his problem isn’t political. His problem is based on science, engineering and hydrology, not politics,” she said. “He can’t simply say the easement is not needed and make it so. . . . My position is, I don’t support developments that cause dangerous situations like flooding.”

Moradian said it’s not political but it is personal.

“You have to defend things you believe in and attacks on your constitutional rights,” he said. “This is really a matter of principle and trying to mitigate any future potential damages she can do.”

There is no set date by which Bonta’s office must reply.