STATE WILL BACK CHALLENGES TO AHMANSON RANCH PROJECT.

Byline: Grace Lee Staff Writer

VENTURA - State Attorney General Bill Lockyer will support legal challenges to the 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch development in southeastern Ventura County, officials said Tuesday.

Ventura County supervisors last year approved the development's supplemental environmental impact report and plans for the project's first phase despite heated demands for new studies on traffic and the contaminant perchlorate, found in a nearby well.

Among the parties to file suit against Ventura County supervisors are the cities of Los Angeles, Agoura Hills, Malibu and Calabasas and Los Angeles County.

``I am particularly concerned about the possible impacts of the project on the habitat of endangered species and water quality,'' Lockyer told Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills, and state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, in a letter last week. ``I also believe that traffic impacts have not been adequately analyzed and that the traffic study used by the county in its approval needs to be updated.''

Pavley said in a statement that she appreciated Lockyer taking the time to ``review the many concerns that have been raised about the approval of this very troublesome project.''

Lockyer's added challenge in the form of an amicus brief, said Kuehl, ``lends important support for further assessment of the devastating impacts the Ahmanson Ranch project will cause.''

``We respectfully disagree with the AG on this matter,'' said Tim McGarry, the spokesman for the project's developer, Washington Mutual. ``Throughout this process, we have shown scrupulous regard for the spirit and letter of California's environmental laws and we will defend the project on that basis.''