Planners OK Dam; 140 Oaks Would Be Lost

It appeared to be a project that nobody wanted.

But after six hours of wrangling, Thousand Oaks planning commissioners early Tuesday approved a Lang Ranch developer’s plan for an 11-acre earthen dam that requires ripping up 140 mature oak trees.

The flood control project, opposed by a dozen residents who live near the dam site, had planning commissioners searching for any reason to deny it during the meeting that began Monday night. But at 1:30 a.m., after a grueling review, they announced that they had no choice but to approve it.

“I don’t think anyone here wants to see a project of this magnitude go in,” said Commissioner Forrest Frields. “But when you talk about the potential for flooding and people’s lives being lost, we have to look at this with great seriousness.

“It’s not a situation where we’re doing something discretionary,” he said before the 4-1 vote.

Commissioner Linda Parks, unsettled by the prospect of tearing up what many residents consider the premier wild oak grove in the city, voted against the project. She said she believes other options still exist.

If the plan receives final approval from the City Council, the flood and debris basin could be under construction at Westlake Boulevard and Avenida de Los Arboles near North Ranch by early next year.

Commissioners said they were forced to approve the project despite its potential for environmental harm, because a federal court ruled in 1986 that a dam must accompany construction of the 2,257-dwelling, 2,500-acre Lang Ranch project.

The dam is meant to protect residents downstream from flooding during a storm expected to occur once every 100 years.

Still, the project’s effects on the environment are expected to be severe, city officials said.

The 16-acre site for the dam and its concrete channels is now home not only to a grove of large oak trees, but is part of a prized wildlife corridor that connects the Simi Hills to the Santa Monica Mountains.

Animals ranging from bobcats and coyotes to owls and golden eagles have been spotted there. In an exhaustive environmental review, city officials said there was no denying the property’s natural value.

“We have felt very strongly that this is an extremely important wildlife habitat,” said Greg Smith, the city planner who prepared the report.

“We’re talking about the loss of a very productive habitat, and the loss of some very large, very old trees that contribute to that habitat,” Smith said. “We looked at all kinds of alternatives, and at this point I’m convinced that there is nothing feasible left that we haven’t tried.”

Still, residents listed their concerns, including a lack of notice that the project would be built to their loss of views of the rustic canyon.

“I see this area every morning, and I see it every night,” said John Riddle, an engineer from Thousand Oaks. “This is the prettiest arroyo in the city, and you’re tearing it out to put in a chunk of cement.”

Riddle complained that the project should have been placed on Lang Ranch property, not land earlier devoted as public space.

“They want to take away public land to solve the flood problems that they are creating,” Riddle said. “I think it’s terrible.”

Lang Ranch representatives said they never expected to build such a large facility, but that government red tape forces them to.

“We have tried, as a responsible developer to the environment, to find out how to avoid building this facility,” said Lang Ranch spokesman Ron Gallagher.