City mayor says traffic through canyons and pollution in creek and lagoon are top concerns.
By P. G. O’Malley/Special to The Malibu Times
As predicted, a host of local municipalities and local national environmental groups have lined up to file lawsuits challenging the Dec. 19, 2002 decision of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to okay the first phase of construction for Ahmanson Ranch, the two-golf course, 3,050-home mini-city planned near Las Virgenes Road and the 101 Freeway.
Although Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings said he expected the city would join the legal battle, which includes suits filed by the city and county of Los Angeles, and the cities of Agoura Hills and Calabasas, as of press time the Malibu City Council had not formally considered the issue. Jennings said the city was mostly interested in the traffic problems the development would cause, increasing traffic through Malibu Canyon and on Pacific Coast Highway and Kanan Dume Road. Jennings said another of the city’s concerns was pollution in Malibu creek and lagoon, which some opponents think is inevitable if the project is built.
City Manager Katie Lichtig said the issue of whether or not to join the legal action was on the agenda for the City Council’s Jan. 27 meeting, but she wouldn’t speculate on what action City Attorney Christi Hogin would recommend to the council. Hogin wasn’t available for comment.
Meanwhile, environmental opponents to the project were given a boost when the Sierra Club, in conjunction with the National Resources Defense Council, also filed suit against the county. The two national organizations joined the Ventura County-based Environmental Defense Center, which also represents opposition groups Save Open Space and Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch. The Native American Group Wishtoyo and Heal the Bay are also involved in the legal action.
“This is not something the Sierra Club takes lightly,” said Counsel Alyse Lazar, who confirmed the issue was decided at the national level. President Carl Pope “went public” with the group’s opposition to the project in a letter to the California attorney general and Lazar said she anticipates the state will also be involved in the litigation.
Washington Mutual spokesperson Tim McGarry dismissed the lawsuits. “We consider most of these suits without merit,” McGarry said, “and we will be defending them vigorously. Since 1992 there have been 11 lawsuits filed and resolved, all in favor of the Ahmanson Ranch project.”
Although the current lawsuits have all been filed against the Ventura County supervisors, Washington Mutual, the parent company of the Ahmanson Land Company, will be paying the legal tab according to the terms of a 1992 developers agreement. The bank is the largest financial institution in the country.
“It was a straight business decision,’ said the Calabasas City Attorney Kathleen Stone. “If the supervisors had sent the project back for more study, they would have been sued by Washington Mutual and would have had to pay their legal expenses. This way the bank pays.”
Heal the Bay staff scientist Shelley Luce said her organization was extremely concerned that the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) certified by the supervisors in their Dec. 19 decision does not contain specific mitigation measures to protect Malibu Creek from the cumulative effect of pesticides, bacteria, sediment and nutrient loading she predicts will accrue from the project. “They list lots of possible mitigation measures, but they don’t commit to them in a specific way and or in a legally binding document,” Luce said. “With no enforceable mitigation measures in the SEIR, the City of Malibu will have nothing to fall back on if Malibu Creek silts up or is contaminated with pesticides from the golf course, or if more people begin getting sick from using Surfrider Beach.”
Luce also pointed out that Malibu Creek has just been listed as “impaired” because of excess sediment. The creek has already received poor ratings for nutrients and bacteria, which are harmful to both the natural environment and humans. The Santa Monica Mountains could be “seriously damaged” said Lazar, if the project goes forward as designed.
“Tim McGarry can no longer say this is a local issue,” said Mary Wiesbrock, president of Save Open Space, which has been fighting the development for more than 10 years. “This is an issue of preserving the integrity of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which is the busiest national park in the nation, in an urban area that is park poor.”
Calabasas attorney Stone said it is likely to take months just to decide on what constituted a record in this case. “I’ve got boxes going back to 1992, when the project was originally approved.”