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Proposal for Newhall Ranch housing project moves ahead
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Despite a request by Ventura County officials to wait, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission unanimously approved this week the first of five "villages" to be built on the old Newhall Ranch property.
In a letter to the commission, Ventura County District 3 Supervisor Kathy Long asked for a continuance of 60 days so local officials could complete their review of the final environmental impact report on the 1,444-home development, dubbed Landmark Village.
Long, whose district borders the development in Los Angeles County, had asked for a delay because local officials did not have enough time to "fully evaluate all the potential significant impacts" from the development, she said in a letter to the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission this week.
But the commission went forward, voting on the project as part of its consent calendar.
That means the development, which is a mix of homes, apartments and condos on about 700 acres along the Santa Clara River east of Piru, has only one more hurdle to clear when it goes before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. That date has not yet been scheduled.
According to county officials, the development will have significant effects on traffic and could increase erosion and sedimentation along the Santa Clara River, causing problems downstream in Ventura County.
The plan to develop Newhall Ranch sparked more than a decade of friction between Los Angeles and Ventura counties, eventually leading to a lawsuit. Local officials long worried that plopping a community the size of Camarillo on its doorstep would worsen traffic, air pollution and water pollution here, while in Los Angeles, officials are trying to keep pace with the insatiable desire for housing in the growing metropolis.
A year ago, Ventura County officials sent detailed comments as part of an environmental review of the development. Those comments were focused on how the development might result in increased traffic and air pollution in Ventura County, harm groundwater, and increase pressure to develop farmland, Long said.
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