LAWSUIT SEEKS REVERSAL OF GOLF COURSE APPROVAL.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

A golf course and amphitheater project proposed for Camarillo Regional Park skimmed through environmental review required by state and local law, two environmental groups claim in a lawsuit filed against the county.

In a suit filed Friday, the Environmental Defense Center and the California Society for Native Plants asked that the Board of Supervisors be ordered to reverse its approval of a conditional-use permit and environmental impact report for the proposed 18-hole golf course and concert amphitheater.

The 370-acre development could threaten an endangered plant species, destroy wetlands on the site and hurt air quality and water supply, the suit charges. But environmental review of those potential impacts was seriously inadequate, and plans to avoid or minimize the potential damage are insufficient, the suit says.

County supervisors said they had not seen the lawsuit, but added that the county had reviewed the project thoroughly and prescribed measures to compensate for any potential problems.

The project, which originally called for building more than 48 acres of wetlands, was modified so that only 3 acres of wetlands would be affected.

And changes to the road and grading on the project were proposed to avoid harming the Dudleya verityi, a scruffy, foot-high plant found only at that site and two other locations in the Santa Monica Mountains.

``It was a 5-0 vote by the board, which I feel was pretty significant,'' said Supervisor Kathy Long. ``I feel that we did look at those issues, and found the review was adequate.''

However, the suit charges that the board and developers ignored new information about the project's impact and failed to recirculate the environmental impact report after the plan was modified.

For instance, the suit states, the environmental review does not analyze new information about how slope grading and air pollution associated with the project could harm the rare plant, as well as lichen at the site.

And although the revised proposal reduced the amount of wetland that would be affected, the environmental review does not analyze how the project would affect the plants and animals on the three acres of wetland that remain.

``There was no evaluation of the ecological dynamics of the site,'' said David Magney, conservation chairman of the Channel Islands Chapter of the California Native Plants Society.

In addition, members of the two groups said the county dismissed other options for the site in favor of the more lucrative golf course and amphitheater proposal.

``The county just said of all the alternatives, `We don't like it - not enough money,' '' said Carla Bard, environmental analyst with the Environmental Defense Center.

Long said, however, that the project is a creative alternative for the cash-strapped parks department.

``I don't feel the county should be admonished for trying to generate revenue that goes back into the taxpayers' coffers that can be used to fund other parks projects,'' she said.