| Developer willing to sell Mountclef property
By Grace Lee, glee@VenturaCountyStar.com A developer who has proposed building
four homes along a key wildlife passageway in Thousand Oaks said Monday
that he was willing to sell the 25-acre property for more than $2.6
million.
Plans for four homes on the city's northwestern edge have
raised concerns that development on the north slope of Mountclef Ridge
could interrupt a wildlife passageway that extends from the Simi hills
to Wildwood Regional Park and into the Santa Monica Mountains. Mountain
lions, bobcats and coyotes as well as smaller animals such as skunks
and raccoons travel through the passageway. "This is a very important issue," Councilman Dennis Gillette
said. "We have a one-time window of opportunity to address this, and my
sense is there will be uniform council support to do whatever is
necessary to work through this and ensure that the wildlife corridor is
preserved, and if that requires public acquisition, that is what we
have to work toward." The property is divided into four parcels. Michael Dubin, a
Moorpark resident who owns one of the lots and plans to develop the
other three as well, said he and his partners are willing to sell the
property for its appraised value, which is $2.62 million. Dubin said he
purchased the four lots three years ago for about $800,000 and spent
$150,000 in improvements such as widening the road leading to the
parcels. He sold three of the parcels to partners and planned to build
his own home on the fourth. The city's planning department will hire a consultant to
complete a new draft of an environmental study after concerns about the
proposed development's impact were raised by the state Department of
Fish and Game. Public review of the report will likely begin by the end
of the year, said John Prescott, director of community development. Gillette said that it is too early to discuss specific dollar
amounts, but he noted that the city received a copy of the developer's
appraisal. The city will also have the property appraised, he said. The
fact that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has listed the
property as a possible acquisition also increases the avenues for
public purchase. Over the years, the city and the Conejo Recreation and Park
District have purchased open space along and near Mountclef Ridge,
preserving about 23 acres of the ridge overlooking the Santa Rosa
Valley. An additional 56 acres west of Mountclef Boulevard have also
been set aside as a nature preserve by California Lutheran University. These efforts will be undermined if construction moves forward
on the 25-acre stretch of land, according to Paul Edelman, deputy
director of natural resources and planning for the Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy. He called the purchase the most important one
the city can make. By cutting off a wildlife corridor, Edelman said,
"you have a closed system with no new genetic material coming in." The severed linkage could result in inbreeding and leave
populations in open space such as Wildwood Regional Park and the
western plateau less resilient to diseases, fires and development. Although Dubin said he was willing to sell, he is nevertheless
moving forward with plans for the homes. Dubin said he had not anticipated the controversy his plans
would arouse, saying that some residents who live near the planned
homes oppose the development because they want to preserve their views.
However, Shari Czerwinski, a member of Save Our Ring of Green,
which is committed to preserving the corridor, said that the issue is
more important than the expansive view overlooking the Santa Rosa
Valley. She said the group has gathered 1,200 signatures in support of
preserving the land. |