BORCHARD LAWSUIT WITHDRAWN; ATTORNEY PLANS TO WIDEN CLAIM AGAINST T.O. ROAD PROJECT.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

A $661 million lawsuit over the controversial Borchard Road project was withdrawn Wednesday so plaintiffs can broaden it to include statewide concerns, a move defendants say is the likely end of what they call a meritless suit.

Plaintiff's attorney Edward L. Masry said the case had sparked interest among dozens of groups statewide, and that he plans to broaden the claim that calls into question the way developers provide information at public meetings.

``We filed Borchard Road not trying to set precedent, just trying to solve a local situation,'' said Masry, who is representing Laura Lee Custodio of Thousand Oaks and the environmental group Save Open Space. ``If I'm going to do this work, I should try to clean up the state of this problem.''

But attorneys for the developers said they were not surprised Masry withdrew his case, and they did not expect him to re-file.

``I am not surprised that they dismissed this lawsuit because there's not any merit to it,'' said attorney Mark C. Allen III, who represents Operating Engineers, the company working on the Borchard Road project.

Steve Weston, an attorney for Miller Brothers developers, said his office had written a letter to Masry, outlining the legal shortcomings of the case.

``I would be surprised to see him re-file anything like this,'' Weston said. ``If he does, it's going to be subject to the same legal attacks.''

Borchard Road is to be one of the main streets to Dos Vientos, a planned community being built in Thousand Oaks by Miller Brothers of Calabasas and Operating Engineers of Pasadena. The road has been challenged as unsafe by residents who say the 12 percent grade is too steep for the street and who worry about accidents and other dangers.

The City Council approved the 12 percent grade in 1996, then stopped work on the road this summer to consider residents' concerns. However, a judge then lifted the stop-work order and the grading continued to completion.

However, the road remains unfinished because the city and the developer cannot agree on safety features. The city has imposed safety guidelines on the developers, but the developers say they have already been given approval to build the road and should not be subject to additional rules.

Masry was undeterred Wednesday to continue with the suit which centers on the truthfulness of statements made when the 12 percent grade plan was presented to the City Council in 1996.