PARKS SAYS PLAN BEING SNUBBED OPTIONAL DESIGN FOR DAM GETTING THE COLD SHOULDER.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS - Councilwoman Linda Parks said her endeavor to present an alternative site for the controversial Lang Ranch dam is being undermined by fellow officials.

While the City Council earlier this month agreed to have staff members review her alternative design, she claims some council members have since contacted regulatory agencies against her plan.

``The City Council members sent a letter to the Army Corps (of Engineers) to not delay the dam on speculation, a figment of one's imagination or someone's wish,'' Parks said, ``and to hurry up and permit the project. I think they doth protest too much.''

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is required to look at alternatives to see if there is an environmentally superior one that is feasible, she said.

The $4.9 million dam and retention basin is being planned along Westlake Boulevard to catch runoff as part of the Lang Ranch development. The city was ordered to build the dam as part of a court order, and has contracted with Ventura County to do the work.

Environmentalists have fought the project they say would uproot oak trees and block views.

Parks said she is submitting her proposal, which calls for a bypass basin downstream from the proposed site, in the first week of March to the Corps and other regulatory agencies.

Mayor Pro Tem Dan Del Campo said the intent of the letter from him and his peers was to make clear Parks was acting on her own.

``We did not see any reason for further delays because we have no knowledge of what any of the alternative proposals are, plus there are no other alternative proposals being looked at or sought by anyone other than Linda Parks,'' Del Campo said.

``For them to base the idea what she is going to bring forth is viable is not an acceptable position on responsible governmental basis.''

The Feb. 10 letter also stated that a proposal similar to Parks' has been looked at during the environmental review process.

Del Campo said if the controlling agencies deemed Parks' proposal viable he would support it.

``We are not saying whether her proposal is good or bad, but how . . . it is being brought forward.''

``The gist of the letter is we don't have any knowledge of this environmentally superior alternative, and to the best of our knowledge even the county in response to Linda Parks has said it didn't feel it is, based on her brief description of it,'' Del Campo said.

Parks said the Ventura County flood control district recently informed her it would no longer study her proposal.

Public Works Director Arthur Goulet said in a Feb. 7 letter that his department has declined to do an analysis of her proposal because it was ``beyond the scope of the agreement between the city, county, flood control district and Lang Ranch Co.''