AHMANSON FOES KEEP ON FIGHTING\So far, court decisions have favored developer.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Despite losing battle after battle in their effort to preserve Ahmanson Ranch, foes of the massive development planned for the back-country oasis remain doggedly determined to block construction.

For seven years, environmental and homeowner groups in communities bordering the 5,433-acre ranch in the hills between Calabasas and Bell Canyon have claimed victory in the fight to sway public opinion, while courtroom losses continue to mount.

With the development approved by Ventura County supervisors but still mired in lawsuits, opponents have opened the new year with a revived campaign to slam the door on the project:

Fliers describing the project and impacts from potential loss of wildlife habitat are going out across western Los Angeles County.

A 10-minute video decrying the development is in the works.

A March art auction is planned in Agoura to raise money to buy television time for a 30-second videotaped appeal to stop the project.

In April, Friends of Ahmanson Ranch will campaign against the development during the Eco-Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"We haven't grown weary. This is the year that we hope to save the ranch," said Mary Wiesbrock, the Agoura environmentalist who helped form Save Open Space to fight Ahmanson.

A spokeswoman for Ahmanson Land Co., a Home Savings of America affiliate, said the company remains committed to the project despite pending lawsuits over the project's environmental report and two proposed access roads.

"We have to resolve the litigation first before we can go forward with anything," said Ahmanson's Mary Trigg.

Bolstering opponents' hopes for the new year is a measure by the state Legislature that would provide tax credits to property owners who donate acreage for open space, wildlife habitat or agriculture preserves. The measure passed the Senate last year and awaits action in the Assembly Parks and Wildlife Committee.

"It would give Ahmanson a graceful way out," said Rosemary Woodlock, the Woodland Hills attorney representing Save Open Space in the lawsuits. "Ahmanson could donate Ahmanson Ranch as open space and write off the whole thing."

While project opponents contend Ahmanson should back the measure, given its potential benefits, Ahmanson has not taken a position.

"They're certainly entitled to feel the way they do," Trigg said of project opponents.

"We're very well aware of the concept of it. We have to wait and see what actually happens to it before we can start commenting on it," she explained.

Ahmanson received the green light on the project in 1992, when the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the proposal for 3,050 homes, 400,000 square feet of commercial space, two schools, four parks, two golf courses and a 300-room hotel.

In turn, the developers were required to acquire four ranches totaling nearly 10,000 acres and donate them to the public as park land.

Environmentalists, homeowners groups and other opponents filed nine separate lawsuits to block the development. The lawsuits were consolidated and rejected by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane in 1994. The opponents took the case to the Court of Appeal in Ventura, which upheld Lane's ruling in October.

The state Supreme Court this month refused to review the appellate ruling.

The Ventura supervisors granted Ahmanson a three-year construction extension - until December 1998 - after Ahmanson officials said they could not complete the acquisition of two remaining parkland tracts until all legal challenges had been settled.

Three legal challenges remain. One again takes on the environmental impact report, claiming that the construction extension was a major change requiring additional review of new development issues under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Lane rejected the suit in July, and the appellate court has yet to review a subsequent appeal of the ruling.

Two lawsuits brought by Ahmanson against the city of Calabasas seek to keep the city from blocking road improvements Ahmanson needs to link the project to existing road networks. Ahmanson proposes to widen and extend both Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Las Virgenes Road.

Ahmanson is awaiting court hearings on both lawsuits.

Ahmanson foes contend that those needed road improvements could doom the project.

"Ventura County made this project on purpose to protect their residents, so there's no roads in and out of Ventura County," Wiesbrock said.

Opponents said a second obstacle is the requirement that Ahmanson complete parkland acquisitions before construction can begin.

Ahmanson is required to acquire or donate 9,900 acres and convey the land to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. The state and federal park agencies helped purchase two of the properties, Jordan Ranch and Liberty Canyon, for about $27 million in public funds. The two remaining tracts, Runkle Ranch and Corral Canyon, remain in the hands of entertainer Bob Hope.

"The public doesn't have any money for it, and does Ahmanson want to pay Bob Hope for it?" Woodlock said.

Ahmanson's Trigg, however, says the parkland donation is one of the development plan's greatest assets. She noted that the 9,900 acres would include 2,600 acres of parkland already within the ranch property.

Trigg said the developer will meet its obligations under the development agreement once all legal challenges are resolved.

"We're pleased with the fact that the Supreme Court declined to review the (initial environmental) case," she said. "So that's one piece of litigation, and we want to get the rest of this cleaned up."

Woodlock, the Save Open Space attorney, said the lawsuits are "legitimate obstacles" to preserve open space and valuable wildlife habitat featuring wetlands and oak woodlands.

Ahmanson opponents have urged Ahmanson officials to back the legislation proposing tax credits in exchange for land donations, given the potential benefits.

The measure's sponsor, Sen. Jack O'Connell, D-Santa Barbara, said it was not written in response to Ahmanson. He said the measure was intended to provide an affordable method to preserve parkland and wildlife habitat deemed valuable by state resources officials.

Ahmanson officials say the company has been tracking the measure since O'Connell introduced it a year ago.

"It's designed to create an incentive for people to donate open space. Right now, we can't do that," the senator said.

"Sure, it would potentially have an impact on the state budget," O'Connell said. "This is much more cost-effective than bond issues. We're paying for them 30 years into the future. This is an immediate, one-time thing."