DEVELOPMENT RUNS INTO SNAG; AHMANSON RANCH VOTE ON HOLD.

Byline: Douglas Haberman and Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writers

The billion-dollar Ahmanson Ranch project hit a roadblock Wednesday when the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission postponed until October a vote on a small but key permit.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky had asked that the matter be taken off the calendar, and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Laura Chick, who were representing him, supported that move at the meeting. The city of Calabasas also sent a representative.

``This project, in this form, should occur after hell freezes over,'' Sherman said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. ``You cannot find any support for this project in any of the surrounding communities.''

A spokesman for Washington Mutual, the parent company developing the 3,050-home master-planned community, called the action a setback but not one that would derail the project.

``It is a disappointment for us,'' said spokesman Adrian Rodriguez. ``We would have liked the issue to have been resolved today. At most, this is a temporary setback.''

The county Planning Commission was conducting a hearing, begun in December, on the developer's request for a permit to remove nine oak trees in the way of a proposed extension of Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

The four-lane road would be extended less than 2,000 feet to the Ventura/Los Angeles county line, providing a key southern entrance to the proposed community near an area just north of Calabasas.

While the development - more than 3,000 homes plus a 300-room hotel, two schools, four parks and two golf courses - is entirely in Ventura County, all traffic entering and exiting will be going through Los Angeles County.

The commission voted 4-1 to postpone the hearing until Oct. 13, after the developer submits tract maps to Ventura County for approval, which is expected this spring or summer.

Environmentalists and residents from area associations have been fighting the project on various fronts, including the issue of the road that would eventually wind through the proposed community and connect with Victory Boulevard on the eastern portion of the property, bringing thousands of vehicles a day into their communities.

Gordon Murley, president of the San Fernando Valley Federation, said the commission made a smart decision to hold off on the tree removal permit until it sees the exact plan for the road.

``I think it bodes well,'' said Murley. ``It isn't acceptable to dump all of this traffic onto Victory (Boulevard).''

Once the Planning Commission makes a decision on the tree removal permit, it cannot be appealed to the Board of Supervisors.

That led Yaroslavsky to the unusual action of requesting that the matter be taken off the commission's calendar until Ventura County approves a tract map for Ahmanson Ranch showing where houses, streets and other features will go.

``It's important the county not take an action that's not needed - until it's required,'' said Ginny Kruger, an aide to Yaroslavsky who attended the meeting.

In another development, Washington Mutual on Tuesday rejected Sherman's request to donate the land for open space, the congressman said.

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Map

MAP: (Ran in Simi and Valley Editions only) AHMANSON RANCH ACCESS ROAD PLAN