`AMIGOS' SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT IN NEWBURY PARK; CRITICS CALL GROUP A PR TOOL.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

In the eyes of its allies, the Dos Vientos Ranch needs help countering the unfairly negative publicity that has swirled around the 2,450-home project since it was approved by the city about a decade ago.

Opponents have long claimed the 2,400-acre development in rolling hills dwarfed by the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains will generate traffic and noise and damage the environmentally sensitive area.

But to the recently formed Dos Vientos Amigos, the project can only benefit the city. The 300-member organization says the project will provide homes for thousands of people working at jobs expected to be created in the next few years and give longtime residents more housing options.

The Amigos say it's important that the project gets built in a timely manner, which is why members intend to appear en masse at a Planning Commission meeting July 14. Then, commissioners are scheduled to rule maps for 250 homes comprising the first phase of the massive project.

``We want the Planning Commission to understand that it's just a small group that's against it,'' said Sandy Humphrey, a real estate broker who is co-president of Dos Vientos Amigos. ``A lot of us living in this area have been waiting for this for a long time.''

Humphrey said about 100 Amigos are in real estate, and the rest are private citizens or business people.

Group leaders say their presence at the meeting will help ensure that the project won't be delayed.

``I think they'll see that there is a large group of people who are in support of it,'' Humphrey said. ``There has been some very inaccurate information (disseminated), as well. So we want to make sure that if they do have questions or concerns about the inaccurate information that we have the correct information and can provide that, too.''

Councilwoman Linda Parks, a longtime opponent of the project, sees the group as a public relations tool that will help bolster the public image of a much-hated project.

``I think it's important for them to have a better image when it comes, for example, to selling houses,'' Parks said.

Dos Vientos Ranch will comprise 2,350 homes, about 1,200 to be constructed by Courtly Homes Inc., and the rest by Pasadena-based Operating Engineers Funds Inc.

Courtly is grading and doing other work in preparation for construction.

According to Arlen Miller, a principal with Courtly Homes, the Los Angeles company is only developing the property where various builders will construct and sell their houses.

Miller said he was delighted by the group's support for his project. But regardless of the organized support, Planning Commissioners will make up their own minds based on the information supplied by the developer.

``I think the Planning Commission will make their decision based on the information in front of them - we're going to put information before them that makes good sense,'' Miller said. ``We've done our homework, we've done an outstanding job to put before them a proposal that should be easily approved.''

Planning commissioners will use city staff reports, data from developers and information gleaned from the public testimony to reach their own decisions about the project, said Marilyn Carpenter, who was appointed to the panel by slow-growth Councilwoman Elois Zeanah.

Just how much influence the public has on the commission depends on the quality of their arguments, she said.

``It's not really a matter of numbers as it is cogent ideas and testimonies,'' Carpenter said. ``That's speaking for me - I don't know whether having swarms of people will have an influence on the other commissioners or not.''

To Dos Vientos opponents such as Michelle Koetke, the Amigos are an insult to Newbury Park residents who will have to suffer the consequences of what she considers a harmful project.

Newbury Park residents, she said, are deeply offended by the Amigos' claim to be speaking for the community.

``They're no friends of Newbury Park; they're the developer's friends,'' she said.

To her mind, it really won't make a difference whether the Amigos paint a positive picture of the project for the Planning Commission or its opponents present evidence of the harm it will bring to Newbury Park.

The commission and City Council, she said, are dominated by pro-development forces, ensuring that the project's various phases will go through without a hitch.

``There can be no doubt about the outcome, because the fix is in,'' Koetke said. ``When residents show up, we're told we're a few misguided extremists. When a handful of the population shows up for something for development - in this case it would be the Dos Vientos Amigos, people who stand to profit obscenely from the destruction of Newbury Park - they are labeled the voice of the people.''

CAPTION(S):

Map

Map: (Color) Dos Vientos Ranch