CHALLENGE TO PROJECT THROWN OUT; JUDGE DISMISSES SUIT OVER HIDDEN CREEK.Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the environmental impact report for the 3,221-home Hidden Creek Ranch development. In his ruling issued late Monday, Judge Thomas J. Hutchins determined that the attorney for the environmental coalition had missed a Dec. 21 deadline for requesting a hearing on the suit. He denied attorney Richard Francis' request for leniency le·ni·en·cy n. pl. le·ni·en·cies 1. The condition or quality of being lenient. See Synonyms at mercy. 2. A lenient act. Noun 1. for that mistake. Gary Austin Gary Austin is the founder and was the original director of the Los Angeles theatre company, "The Groundlings". Austin earned a B.A. in theater from San Francisco State University, and holds workshops on both the east and west coasts of the United States. , vice president of Messenger Investment Co., the developer of Hidden Creek, said he was pleased with the judge's decision. ``We were obviously gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. that the judge made the decision because it saves the city a tremendous amount of money and agony agony, n severe pain or extreme suffering. agony 1. death struggle. 2. extreme suffering. ,'' he said. ``But there's a lot of legal wrangling ahead and we'll just take them one at a time.'' Francis did not return phone calls. Roseann Mikos, a longtime long·time adj. Having existed or persisted for a long time: a longtime friend; a longtime resident of Detroit. longtime Adjective opponent of the development, said the group was disappointed. ``The judge has made his ruling and certainly we don't agree with it because we argued the other side,'' she said. She said the group has not yet decided whether to appeal. The suit was filed in September against the city of Moorpark and its council. It was later amended to include the Local Agency Formation Commission among the defendants because it approved annexation annexation, in international law, formal act by which a state asserts its sovereignty over a territory previously outside its jurisdiction. Many kinds of territory have been subject to annexation, chief among them those inhabited by settlers of the annexing power, of the land to the city. The developer was named only as an interested party, but took the lead in the defense because the suit attacked its project through its environmental impact review document. Hutchins heard arguments from both sides at a hearing Monday morning in the East County Courthouse, but held off making a decision until late in the day. At the hearing, Francis argued that because LAFCO LAFCO Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCO Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative was added to the suit a mere week before the deadline, the time should have been extended in order to allow the commission's counsel to be brought up to speed on the case. But the developer's attorney argued in court that there is no provision for an extension of a deadline, even when that suit is amended. LAFCO representatives said they were not responsible for the EIR EIR n. popular acronym for environmental impact report, required by many states as part of the application to a county or city for approval of a land development or project. (See: environmental impact report) in question and so the commission should not have been included in the suit at all. Both sides said that since the outcome of the referendum vote Tuesday could result in still another lawsuit, this would not be the last time they meet in court. |
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