Ahmanson Ranch Project

Re "Ahmanson Ranch Foes Pin Hopes on New Supplemental Impact Study," Nov. 19. The communities that surround the proposed "Ahmanson City" and commuters on the Ventura Freeway deserve actual up-to-date traffic figures that include those that would be generated by the Ahmanson Ranch development. Washington Mutual's traffic numbers are based on wishful thinking at best. Ventura County has become Washington Mutual's lap dog. Repeatedly county officials have looked the other way when pertinent new information has been brought to their attention.

In the late 1980s, Mary Wiesbrock took up a new cause: She wanted to stop a plan that would have plopped 3,050 new homes on Ahmanson Ranch in the Simi Hills. Wiesbrock lived in the area and had previously railed against billboards she thought were cluttering up hillsides. She believed the development was a horrendous idea that would only bring more traffic, pollution and sprawl. So, she fought it. And won.

A key Ventura County hearing on the proposed 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch project near Calabasas is being delayed to give the public more time to review environmental documents. The hearing, originally slated for Wednesday, will be held Oct. 14 because defects have been found on compact discs containing a 4,000-page environmental study, said Bruce Smith, a planning manager.

California has agreed to buy the 2,800-acre Ahmanson Ranch, ending a 17-year battle between developers who sought to create a new city on the Los Angeles-Ventura County border and a coalition of environmentalists, homeowners and celebrities whose lobbying efforts will preserve the rolling hills and oak savannas for hiking and open space.

Two dozen critics of the proposed $1-billion Ahmanson Ranch project told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday that an environmental study of the new mini-city is seriously flawed and that the development should not be built in the rolling hills near Calabasas. But an equal number of speakers at the four-hour hearing supported the Ahmanson Land Co.'s plan to build a 3,050-dwelling golf course community on 2,800 acres at the Los Angeles County line.

In the late 1980s, Mary Wiesbrock took up a new cause: She wanted to stop a plan that would have plopped 3,050 new homes on Ahmanson Ranch in the Simi Hills. Wiesbrock lived in the area and had previously railed against billboards she thought were cluttering up hillsides. She believed the development was a horrendous idea that would only bring more traffic, pollution and sprawl. So, she fought it. And won.

Homeowners of Calabasas and nearby communities on Saturday lambasted an environmental review of the proposed 3,050-house Ahmanson Ranch project, providing the city ammunition to challenge the project and Ventura County's Board of Supervisors in court, if necessary. "Right now, we're playing 'chicken'--like two trains speeding toward each other on the same track," City Councilwoman Lesley Devine said after a 3 1/2-hour public hearing at City Hall to address environmental concerns on the project.

Joseph Smyth, a planner in Thousand Oaks who designs untraditional housing developments, used to chauffeur his clients around in a Cadillac he leased for $550 a month. The car was large, luxurious and completely at odds with his work. Smyth is a fervent advocate of "eco-cities," communities whose designs are based on environmental principles. And the No. 1 principle of an eco-city is the elimination of automobiles.

Though we are still in the middle of a drought and have just gone through a period of water rationing, two golf courses are being planned for the Ahmanson Ranch project. See what money can buy! MR. and MRS. JAMES GILLIS West Hills

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy on Monday authorized negotiations to purchase the Ahmanson Ranch, a 2,800-acre rolling tract in eastern Ventura County that conservationists have long sought to preserve as parkland. For two months, state officials have been discussing a possible deal with ranch owner Washington Mutual, whose plan to build a 3,050-home golf course project on the property has been blocked for years by legal challenges.

In another sign that the controversial Ahmanson Ranch housing project may never be built, owners have replaced the president of the ranch development company, while continuing talks with state officials about converting the 2,800-acre Ventura County property into parkland. Washington Mutual Inc.

After insisting for years that it would not sell Ahmanson Ranch, Washington Mutual has confirmed discussions with top state officials to possibly transfer the rolling cattle ranch to a parks agency while abandoning plans for a 3,050-home golf course development. California Resources Agency Secretary Mary Nichols initiated talks several weeks ago for possible purchase of the 2,800-acre ranch in east Ventura County, Washington Mutual spokesman Adrian Rodriguez said.

Maria VanderKolk flew 1,800 miles last week for three minutes of redemption. But some old friends refused even to talk to her. VanderKolk was once the youngest supervisor in Ventura County history and a darling of environmentalists. Her onetime allies practically ran her out of town after she brokered a 1992 deal that saved 10,000 acres of scenic hills but permitted construction of 3,050 homes on Ahmanson Ranch.

A new study of the controversial Ahmanson Ranch mini-city near Calabasas moved toward a key vote Thursday as dozens of speakers told Ventura County planning commissioners that the subdivision is either an environmental disaster or relief to Southern California's housing crunch. A hearing chamber was so packed with people wanting to speak that officials set up an overflow room nearby, equipped with a TV monitor carrying the testimony live.

Former Vice President Al Gore and environmental leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally lobbied a Ventura County supervisor this week over the proposed 3,500-home Ahmanson Ranch project -- an unusual intervention that demonstrates a growing level of national interest in the debate over preserving the rolling grasslands west of the San Fernando Valley.

Opponents of the Ahmanson Ranch housing project turned out in force Monday to assail a follow-up study on the environmental effects of the proposed 3,050-home mini-city. Critics called the report inadequate and demanded that further studies be conducted to determine how water, air, wildlife and traffic would be affected by the development, which would be built in Ventura County on the Los Angeles County line.

A key Ventura County hearing on the proposed 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch project near Calabasas is being delayed to give the public more time to review environmental documents. The hearing, originally slated for Wednesday, will be held Oct. 14 because defects have been found on compact discs containing a 4,000-page environmental study, said Bruce Smith, a planning manager.