COUNCIL TO LOOK AT LANG CREEK DAM CONSULTANT; ALTERNATIVES SOUGHT FOR PROJECT THAT WOULD COST 47 OAK TREES.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Daily News Staff Writer

The City Council will consider today whether to hire a consultant to study alternatives to the controversial Lang Ranch detention basin, a move that could add millions to the cost of the project.

A county official has warned that pursuing alternatives now - when plans and specifications for the 11-1/2-acre flood-control basin are already complete - could increase construction costs by at least $1.5 million and other costs to $750,000. The county is building the basin for the city.

``If the city concluded there can be significant changes to the project, we will have to discuss those significant changes before accepting them and continuing forward with the project,'' said Arthur Goulet, Ventura County public works director.

``A great many alternatives have been examined and we don't think that there is any feasible alternative which would obtain the project's objects.''

Goulet said if the city opts to pursue an alternative, it would have to go through a new environmental process, and do preliminary engineering and geologic analysis and additional design work - all costly procedures.

So far, $310,000 has been spent on the project's design, including an oak tree survey and geologic investigations.

As proposed, the $2.9 million detention basin would protect properties downstream by catching Lang Creek's runoff, which is expected to increase as a result of a 2,257-home development. The project, financed from revenue from a Mello Roos tax assessment, would remove 47 of the city's prized oak trees.

The city already has received responses from eight consultants interested in analyzing options and alternatives to the proposed basin, said Don Nelson, city public works director. Nelson estimated the cost of such as study at $80,000 to $100,000.

Whether the city goes out to bid for the work will be determined tonight by the council, he said.

The City Council also will consider whether to proceed with an informational workshop on the basin and whether to study the feasibility of replanting the uprooted oaks. The city would be responsible for the costs of the study and any tree relocation.

Mayor Linda Parks said the council approved in January moving forward with a televised workshop and decided to solicit bids on finding alternatives to the project.

``I see those as very positive steps toward an opportunity to get this dam out of an ancient oak grove,'' Parks said. ``And I thought the City Council would proceed in that regard.

``What is now on the agenda before us is to reconsider those decisions, which I think of as a negative rather than a positive,'' she said. ``I want to proceed and proceed forthwith in looking for an alternative.''

Parks also said the idea of transplanting the oaks is not feasible because the habitat would be lost and the trees likely would not survive the process.

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MAP: (Ran in Conejo Edition only) LANG RANCH BASIN PROPOSAL