Road Extension Links City to County Line

The developers of Ahmanson Ranch said Wednesday that they have completed a 14-foot extension of Las Virgenes Road, bringing them one step closer to creating a major road system to the controversial, though unapproved, development.

The construction took 1 1/2 days last week, and the road, which remains closed to the public, now connects the city of Calabasas to the Ventura County line, said Mary Triggs, spokeswoman for landowner Home Savings of America.

Steven Harris, Calabasas’ director of community development, said Ahmanson Land Co. was granted an encroachment permit in late July after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled in the company’s favor.

The court decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by Ahmanson Land Co. last year, after the city said the company’s permit application was incomplete. Calabasas asked Ahmanson to file for a conditional-use permit and conduct an environmental impact review of the proposal.

Harris said the judge ruled that the extension was not technically a project and therefore did not require such an environmental document.

Mary Weisbrock, head of the environmental group Save Open Space, said she was surprised to see that the work had already been completed. “People were going down to Las Virgenes, looking at that road, and saying, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ ”

The proposed development of more than 3,000 homes, golf courses and commercial space has touched off other lawsuits and environmental protests in the area after Ventura County officials approved the project without considering the concerns about traffic impacts to adjacent Los Angeles County.

Eventually, Las Virgenes Road is expected also to connect parts of San Fernando Valley to the area, and Thousand Oaks Boulevard also would be extended from Ventura County.