Schillo Has Idea to Shrink Ahmanson Ranch

Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo will unveil details of a proposal today that he says could reduce the size of the massive Ahmanson Ranch housing development planned at the Ventura-Los Angeles County line.

Schillo said Monday the county has an opportunity to scale down the 3,050-home mini-city by recrafting a complex deal that requires developers to acquire 4,700 acres of private ranch land and turn it over to park agencies before starting construction.

Schillo is proposing that Ahmanson officials save the $25 million to $30 million they would have spent buying the private land, and instead use the money to either reduce the number of homes in the project or buy the development rights from owners of other developable land around the Conejo Valley.

He said that with the last of 15 lawsuits filed against the much-maligned project now settled, there is nothing to stop development and its potential to clog the Ventura Freeway and surrounding roads with traffic. The project--which would house about 12,000 residents--is expected to generate roughly 37,500 daily car trips.

“I think we have only one opportunity, and that’s right now, to come up with some creative ideas to reduce the impact of the project,” Schillo said. “There have been 15 lawsuits and no one’s won, so I don’t see how anyone’s going to reduce Ahmanson other than Ahmanson itself.”

In January, Schillo hopes to convince at least two other members of the Board of Supervisors to set up a special committee to explore his ideas. He envisions a 12-member committee of elected leaders, project proponents and critics as well as school, parks and open-space agencies.

The committee would then work to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on how the 6-year-old Ahmanson development agreement could be changed.

“If it doesn’t work, it’s probably because somebody doesn’t want it to happen,” Schillo said.

Cassandra Auerbach, a member of a legal committee for the Conejo group of the Sierra Club, said the designation of open-space lands was the only reason the environmental group did not sue to block the Ahmanson project.

Those lands, she said, represent critical passageways for wild animals traversing the Santa Monica Mountains between the Angeles and Los Padres national forests.

Taking those assurances out of the Ahmanson plan could have the effect of creating an isolated island of wildlife.

“It’s like taking these animals and putting them 100 miles off shore,” said Auerbach, who also sits on a joint park and lands committee of the Angeles and Los Padres chapters of the Sierra Club.

“We’re talking about larger issues than gridlock on the 101,” she said.

Representatives of the environmental group Save Open Space, the leading critic of the housing project, have vowed to oppose any move by the county that would let the Ahmanson Land Co. and its parent, Home Savings of America, out of its open-space commitment.

Vince Curtis of Oak Park, a member of SOS who is challenging Schillo for his seat in the June 1998 election, said he always expected the developer to try to get out of its development agreement.

Schillo’s proposal is just a political ploy, Curtis alleged.

“Mr. Schillo is just in cahoots with Home Savings with regard to this,” Curtis said.

The Ahmanson Ranch project is planned at the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties southeast of Simi Valley. In addition to the more than 3,000 homes, development plans call for 400,000 square feet of commercial space, two golf courses and a 300-room hotel.

Development has been stalled since plans were first approved by Ventura County supervisors in 1992. The project has remained in limbo as the developer worked to settle the 15 lawsuits and negotiate the purchase of the private land for open space, a condition of the board’s original approval.