Environmental mitigation procedures for Ahmanson Ranch concern U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dept. of Fish and Game.
By P.G. O’Malley/Special to The Malibu Times
Both sides claimed reason to celebrate last week, May 8, when the Ventura County Environmental Report Review Committee voted to extend the public comment period on the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for Ahmanson Ranch.
Washington Mutual, the developer of the 3,050-home, two-golf course community north of the 101 Freeway near Las Virgenes Road, expressed satisfaction that the extension applied only to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). The agency, which has jurisdiction over both L.A. and Ventura counties, had requested more time to review a water quality study submitted at the last minute by the developers.
On the other hand, Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch, which opposes the project, saw opportunity in the fact that the water board, which has permit authority over the development, has expressed reservations about how Washington Mutual intends to process its sewage and contain storm water and urban runoff. The 2000-plus pristine acres is home to two endangered species and includes the headwaters of Malibu Creek.
Two other agencies with permit authority over the project, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, have also expressed concern about environmental mitigation procedures, with the state agency requesting more time to respond to the SEIR.
The Ventura environmental review committee chairperson, Bruce Smith, appeared to discount the state’s request as well as two others, one from the City of Calabasas and another from Assemblywoman Fran Pavley who represents residents likely to be impacted when the project is built. Pavley said she was concerned that residents in the 41st Assembly District had not been able to access public documents necessary to comment on the SEIR.
Buoyed by Wednesday’s decision, Washington Mutual spokesperson Tim McGarry said the savings and loan remained confident the Planning Commission would have the document by midsummer and the Board of Supervisors by mid-fall, referring to the fact that once the review committee is satisfied the SEIR meets the letter of the state’s environmental law, the document must be certified by the Ventura County Planning Commission, then given a final nod by the Board of Supervisors. But while McGarry expressed optimism that groundbreaking for the project will proceed on schedule in mid-2003, some long-term observers noted that Washington Mutual now faces a time crunch if its goal is to get the project before the county board before newly elected Supervisor Linda Parks, a strong opponent, is seated in January.
Wednesday marked the third hearing on the SEIR, a supplement to the original Environmental Impact Report completed in 1992, which was called for when the two endangered species were discovered on the Ahmanson property. Voting against the extended public comment period, Smith indicated he was satisfied with the planning staff’s assessment that the committee was empowered to receive “sustentative” comments on the SEIR at any time, which suggested that the concerns of permitting agencies such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the state Department of Fish and Game would be accepted and reviewed, although not available to the public through the hearing process.
The committee is scheduled to hear the RWQCB’s comments on June 19, when the county planning department will also report on any substantial changes that need to be made to the document as a result of comments presented during the review period as well as accommodating committee concerns. So far committee members have expressed concern about traffic and protection of Native American cultural resources located on the Washington Mutual property.
Although the terms of an agreement negotiated by Ventura County and the Ahmanson Land Co. in 1992, when the project was approved, specified that traffic mitigation could not be revisited in subsequent documents, repeated requests were made during the SEIR comment period for a new traffic study to reflect development that has occurred in Ventura County and the Conejo Valley in the 12 years since the original study was undertaken.
Larry Myers, the executive director of the California Native American Heritage Commission, also upbraided the county for not following procedure and consulting with the agency regarding a newly designated cultural resources site on the Ahmanson property.