AHMANSON FACING ROADBLOCK COUNCIL VOTES TO KEEP PORTION OF VICTORY CLOSED.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

WEST HILLS - Trying to force the Ahmanson Ranch project to undertake a new environmental study, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday ordered that the west end of Victory Boulevard remain closed for at least another 18 months.

The developer questioned the legality of the city's effort and said its study of the traffic impact on the west San Fernando Valley is valid with an updated report to be released soon.

``What we are saying is that if Ahmanson wants access to Los Angeles city streets, they need to perform a new environmental impact review,'' Councilman Dennis Zine said.

``The people in the West San Fernando Valley and all the elected officials from that area are opposed to the Ahmanson project. If (developers) want access, they have to prove it will not impact the environment,'' he said.

Without the council action, Zine said developers could have forced the opening of the west end of Victory Boulevard once construction began.

A spokesman for the developer disagreed with the action and challenged the council's assumptions.

``There is a supplemental environmental impact report in process,'' Tim McGarry, a spokesman for Washington Mutual and its subsidiary Ahmanson Land Co., said in an interview. ``Ventura County is doing the supplemental EIR and it's due to be published in a couple of weeks.''

He also challenged the council's assertion that traffic and pollution could be worse than previously thought. ``Caltrans has agreed the traffic analysis in the 1992 EIR remains valid,'' McGarry said.

The project calls for the construction of 3,050 homes in Ventura County on the Los Angeles County border. It has created an uproar in Zine's West Valley district, with residents concerned over increased traffic.

``The last EIR that was done is 10 years old,'' Zine said. ``There have been a lot of changes since then and they should have to study the impacts.''

The west end of Victory Boulevard has been fenced off since 1996 because of vandalism problems then and the council has voted to keep it closed at 18-month intervals, Zine said.

However, in an action that slipped through in 1999, Zine said a condition was added saying Victory would be reopened if Ahmanson needed it for its project.

``We don't know how this got added, but we've eliminated it now,'' Zine said after the council's 10-0 vote.

Supporters say the project - consisting of homes, a hotel, commercial stores, two golf courses, office space, schools and a library - is a model of planned growth.

Valley residents, however, fear the project will add 40,000 cars a day to Los Angeles streets once it is completed.

The project spokesman questioned whether the city has any legal basis to keep the street closed.

``We agreed to this Victory Boulevard closure back in 1995 to be a good neighbor but we stipulated we retained the right of access,'' McGarry said. ``State law generally prohibits blocking public streets, and Victory Boulevard will be a main access to the community.''

Dennis Hawkins, a Ventura County senior planner assigned to the project, said the developer probably doesn't need the access for the next 18 months, but city attempts to block access in the future could trigger a legal struggle.

``It's interesting because if they could legally close Victory Boulevard that would probably kill the project, but from my understanding I don't see how they'd have that right,'' Hawkins said.

Staff Writer Sabrina Decker contributed to this story.

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