Los Angeles County estimates 1,000 extra vehicle trips on Kanan Dume and Malibu Canyon roads from the Ventura County Ahmanson Ranch development.
By P. G. O’Malley/Special to The Malibu Times
Opponents worry the developers of Ahmanson Ranch aren’t being required to do enough to mitigate the 37,500 vehicle trips a day the 3,050-home development would generate. It appears that even if Washington Mutual were forced to ante up more funds, there isn’t much that can be done to keep the project from pushing the already congested Ventura Freeway over the edge and sending more vehicles through the mountains into Malibu.
Original studies provided by the developer project the development will generate only 60 additional vehicle trips a day through Malibu during peak commuter times, but a Los Angles County traffic model estimates the effect from the project at 1,000 additional vehicle trips a day on both Malibu Canyon Road and Kanan Dume Road.
Additionally, no one appears to have given much thought to how 10,000 new residents just north of Las Virgenes Road and the 101 Freeway will affect weekend traffic in and around Malibu, or how the overloaded freeway will affect Malibu residents who shop or do business on the other side of the mountains.
“Sooner or later, the freeway is going to fail,” said one local planning official. “The Ahmanson development will just make it happen sooner than later.”
Malibu Canyon Road carries the Z traffic (cross-mountain traffic) that exits the freeway at the Las Virgenes interchange and is also the primary entry point for Ahmanson traffic onto the 101. According to 1993 estimates by Los Angeles Countyis, this freeway is now running at capacity, and a random count of traffic on the road indicates what many Malibu residents already know-weekends can be worse than morning commuter traffic.
“The real issue,” says Dennis Hawkins, the Ventura County planner who has been working on the Ahmanson Project since 1990, “is cumulative traffic.” Hawkins is refering to the effect of everything generated along the 101 up to and including the Ahmanson development.
Hawkins points out that when the original 1992 Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Ahmanson Ranch was certified, projections were the Ventura Freeway in this area would fail in 10 years if Caltrans didn’t add additional traffic lanes, as much as two new lanes in each direction. The transportation agency has made it known that it’s studying the problem, but so far has not made recommendations about how to solve the traffic crunch. Current estimates have it that the 101 may be gridlocked from three to four hours a day, and according to testimony given last year by a spokesman for Caltrans District Seven, the segment of the Ventura Freeway that will sustain the most significant traffic impact from the Ahmanson Ranch development is also the one that will most affect Malibu residents-the nine-mile stretch east of Kanan Dume Road.
Barry Witler, head of transportation planning for L.A. County, thinks there are a number of problems that need to be addressed about the development’s effect on the freeway and side streets in L. A. County, including the fact that the original figures on which traffic projections were based are outdated and a number of development projects that were on the cumulative list 10 years ago have since been built. Witler is also worried that the cost to update the 62 intersections-including Lost Hills, Las Virgenes and Valley Circle-that were originally identified as needing improvements to accommodate Ahmanson traffic, has escalated since 1992.
Witler’s concerns are moot as far as Ventura County is concerned. Despite protests from state Sen. Sheila Kuehl and Assemblymember Fran Pavley, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors has taken the position that a 1992 developer’s agreement between Ventura County and Ahmanson Land Company limits the developer to a cap of $3.6 million to mitigate all traffic effects related to the project, none of which has been earmarked for traffic on cross-mountain roads around Malibu or on Pacific Coast Highway.
Hawkins also points out the original EIR did not take into consideration the possibility that traffic patterns might change, a contention that’s being made by Mary Wiesbrock of Save Open Space (SOS), a group opposed to the project. Wiesbrock insists that motorists from as far away as Simi Valley and as close as Kanan Dume Road north of the 101 Freeway have changed the way traffic moves around the region.
SOS and other critics of the development are also charging that Caltrans has dropped the ball by not requiring a revised traffic study for the Ventura Freeway that takes into consideration new development north of Ahmanson Ranch, in the Conejo Valley and around Camarillo. Wiesbrock has, in fact, recently charged that Caltrans has been “bought off” by Sacramento lobbyists representing Washington Mutual. Asked about the savings and loan’s influence in Sacramento, spokesperson Tim McGarry insisted ranch opponents were active in Sacramento, and Washington Mutual’s efforts have only been an attempt to protect itself.
“We find it important to be where the opposition is,” said McGarry.
McGarry also corroborated reports that Washington Mutual has agreed to consider a suggestion by Caltrans to contribute to what the agency calls mainland freeway improvements. Although Caltrans and the county of Ventura are reported to be talking, no one has indicated what the formula might be, whereby Washington Mutual would add to the $3 million mitigation fund it is already committed to. But, ultimately, Hawkins isn’t optimistic about the area’s traffic problems.
“To make a real difference, you’re going to need hundreds of millions of dollars,” says Hawkins.
Meanwhile, Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch, the opposition group founded by movie producer Rob Reiner and HBO executive Chris Albrecht, has stepped up its efforts to “educate” the public on the Washington Mutual development. On April 6, the organization will kick off the campaign with a press conference, after which volunteers will fan out to local branches of the savings and loan. The organization is also scheduling an April 13 bus trip north, in time for Washington Mutual’s shareholders’ meeting on April 16 in Seattle.
Ventura County has scheduled two hearings to receive comments on the Supplemental EIR recently released on the Ahmanson project. The first is slated for April 17 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, the second on May 1, same time, same location. The City of Calabasas is holding its own public hearing April 6 at 10 p.m. in City Council chambers off the 101 Freeway to give locals a chance to make their comments known. All comments, written or oral must be received by Ventura County by May 1. The Los Angeles City Council is also holding a meeting on Ahmanson Ranch on April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Madrid Theater in Canoga Park.