Lang Ranch Still May Press Lawsuit After City Gives OK to Project : Thousand Oaks: City approved flood control proposal, but developer is uncertain about the ‘parameters of the decision.’

The attorney for the Lang Ranch Co. said Wednesday that the developer is still undecided about pursuing its lawsuit against Thousand Oaks, despite a surprise vote by the City Council to approve the company’s flood control project.

“We haven’t seen the conditions of approval yet,” Karen Lee said. “We are not sure what the parameters of the decision are. Until we see it we can’t say whether what they did was good, bad or indifferent.”

Lee said she and company officials will meet early next week with City Atty. Mark Sellers to discuss the lawsuit.

Sellers said he is confident the city will be able to work out an agreement with Lang Ranch without going to court.

“I don’t see any major stumbling block,” Sellers said. “I can’t see any justification for the judge to be involved.”

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Despite lingering reservations from some members, the City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday night to approve a modified version of the disputed flood control project, to be built in an oak-lined canyon at Westlake Boulevard and Avenida de los Arboles.

The project, a massive dam and debris basin with capacity to hold runoff from a once-in-a-century storm, has considerable environmental ramifications. Not only will it require destroying scores of ancient oaks, it will also displace the owls, coyotes, bobcats and hawks that forage along Lang Creek, the stream that runs through the canyon.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah and Mayor Jaime Zukowski have been vehemently opposed to the project since it was brought before the council in January.

But faced with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit the developer brought last week in federal court, both women changed their minds, saying their reversals were in the best interests of the city.

“I find myself supporting a position which puts me in conflict with all the reasons I wanted to live in Thousand Oaks,” Zukowski said. “This is a conclusion which is very hard to accept.”

Zeanah, who fought until the last minute of Tuesday’s public hearing to return the project to the Planning Commission for further examination of possible alternatives, was clearly unhappy with her vote.

“This was not a responsible decision, it was a pragmatic decision,” Zeanah said.

She said she changed her mind because she was convinced that U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian would rule against the city, forcing Thousand Oaks to take responsibility for building the basin.

If Thousand Oaks lost the lawsuit, not only would the city have to pay attorney’s fees and damages, but it might have to build the project to Lang’s original specifications, which would take out 140 oak trees. The version that won approval from the council may only require removing 98 trees, and possibly as few as 60.

Tevrizian has in the past ruled in favor of the developer. In 1986 he sternly prohibited Thousand Oaks from interfering with plans Lang Ranch has for building a 2,257-residence development in North Ranch.

After a third lengthy public hearing Feb. 7, where council members were not able to approve either version of the basin as proposed by the developer, Lee informed city officials the company would seek help from Tevrizian in settling the dispute.

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Last Friday, Lang Ranch made good on its promise, and Tevrizian was presented with a brief that claimed the city was “grasping at straws” and intentionally causing an “interminable delay” in the permit process.

Zeanah and Zukowski still say the project is poorly planned and possibly excessive, but their reversals seemed to dissipate tension that had been building among council members on the issue. There were relieved smiles all the way around the dais after the vote and even praise from Councilman Andy Fox.

“I would like to commend the council for taking the responsible action,” Fox said. “Doing so takes courage. These are not decisions we take lightly.”

There is still one potential pitfall ahead for the city. In its request to Tevrizian, Lang Ranch makes a case for building the original version of the project--the one that would take out the entire canyon and destroy more trees--and attorney Lee said the company may stick by that request.

“Lang thinks there is a contractual obligation to build there,” Lee said, adding that the developer still has problems with the alternative version.

But Sellers said the basin approved by the council should be acceptable.

“(Lang) gave us both options,” he said. “It was an alternative in the environmental review. They can’t back-pedal on us.”