OJAI : Golf Course Foes to Appeal to High Court

They’ve lost their case in two separate courts and have been denied a rehearing at the appellate level, but members of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County aren’t giving up their crusade against the proposed Farmont golf course near Ojai.

They’re taking their case to the California Supreme Court in hopes that body will hear their grievances.

“We’re not giving up, we can’t give up,” coalition spokesman Alasdair Coyne said.

Construction of the 204-acre golf course and 19,000-square-foot clubhouse on land off California 150 near the Rancho Matilija subdivision has been delayed for more than two years by environmental lawsuits.

The coalition maintains that the golf course would violate county water policy although the county has already approved the project and declared it consistent with county laws.

“This suit is being filed because Farmont’s project approval demonstrated such blatant disregard both for the letter of our county’s General Plan and for the preservation of depleted water supplies,” Coyne said.

The group’s lawyer, Philip A. Seymour, acknowledged that the case has little chance of being heard by the high court.

“The court hears less than 3% of the cases presented to it, but we’re just going to take our chances,” Seymour said.

Lindsay F. Nielson, who represents the Farmont Corp. of Pasadena, said the group’s petition will not affect the project, which is scheduled to begin next spring.

“They’ll just get a postcard back from the state Supreme Court in a couple of months telling them to get lost,” Nielson said. “How many times do they have to be told they don’t have a case?”