Los Angeles County supervisors will consider granting final approval to the 21,600-home Newhall Ranch project Tuesday, nearly three years after a judge forced the developer to prove it has enough water for the massive subdivision.
But some of the project's most serious complications spring from a different source -- the discovery on the site of the endangered San Fernando Valley spineflower and fallout from an investigation into the developer's alleged destruction of the plant.
In county government, details of the spineflower case have led to a disagreement over the trustworthiness of Newhall Land & Farming Co.'s latest environmental reports, which supervisors will consider Tuesday. County biologist Daryl Koutnik said the planning staff is comfortable with the documents, but the supervisors' ecological advisory committee doubts whether the company's new environmental reports are complete.
"We're not dealing with a company here that is willing to divulge its information," committee member Frank Hovore said at a January meeting. "So why should we believe this information is even credible?"
The discovery of the plant on the development site was announced in May 2000, a few days before Kern County Superior Court Judge Roger D. Randall temporarily blocked supervisors' initial approval of the project.
More recently, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office investigated allegations that the developer destroyed some spineflowers, but dropped its probe in February as part of a settlement with Newhall.
The company asserts it did nothing wrong.
But others are not convinced. In a letter to her Los Angeles County colleagues this month, Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long said public records provide "a clear picture of Newhall deliberately withholding spineflower discoveries from regulatory agencies, censoring consultant's conclusions made available to the public, and targeting spineflower colonies for destruction."
Others say the controversy has exposed flaws in Los Angeles County's environmental reporting procedures.
A state Assembly bill has been introduced to address the issue, and last week Supervisor Michael Antonovich introduced a motion to study changes locally.
If the supervisors are now wary of the system used to analyze Newhall Ranch, some opponents wonder why the board is considering a final vote on the project Tuesday.
