Article taken from the
Santa Barbara News Press
Published with permission
Felled tree
symbol of rancor between
developer, residents
By MELINDA
BURNS
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
3/17/03
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For three years, residents of the semi-rural communities near Malibou Lake bitterly fought Mr. Osgood's proposals for 19 luxury homes, largely in the foothills of Triunfo Creek, amid oak and sycamore forests. They also opposed his plans for a two-lane, 250-foot-long private bridge over the creek, saying it would cause more flooding in wet winters.
And they were inflamed by the news that a centuries-old oak tree next to the highway would get the ax.
"I am really hurt by the fact that we couldn't stop this project," said Mary Altmann, a Mulholland Highway resident who sued Mr. Osgood and then ran out of money to pursue the case. "Everybody was up in arms. I feel we could have won, or, at the very least, gotten him to move the tree."
Fifteen of the homes will be built in the steep hillsides above the creek. In approving the Hidden Estates project in 1992, Los Angeles County said no oak trees could be cut down or damaged in any way. Mr. Osgood's Orange County firm, Vintage Communities, bought the property in 1998. He later purchased several lots on the Mulholland side of the creek and applied separately for four more homes there.
All that remained for Mr. Osgood, or so he thought, was to record the original subdivision map for Hidden Estates and start grading.
Instead, the project became mired in two dozen acrimonious hearings before the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
Critics of the project, including the National Park Service, state Department of Parks and Recreation and state Department of Fish and Game, argued that the original plans had expanded so much that a comprehensive environmental review should be required for all 19 homes, plus the bridge and the oak trees. The construction and grading were expected to interfere with the "protected zone" around 24 oaks.
Mr. Osgood said his opponents were clutching at straws. Some of the most outspoken of them, he said, had moved into the large homes that were built on Mulholland during a construction boom in the mid-1990s, well after Hidden Estates was approved.
"A number of people were saying stuff about this property that was totally inaccurate and ill-informed," Mr. Osgood said. "It's fair game to protest before it's subdivided, but once it's subdivided, you're attacking somebody's rights. It's late in the game."
Mr. Osgood is no stranger to controversy. On the Gaviota coast, where he wants to build 55 homes at Naples, just west of Bacara Resort & Spa, he has encountered stiff opposition from a coalition of environmentalist groups. The entire coast west of Coal Oil Point, including Naples, is under study for potential inclusion in the national park system.
Last year, the Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club and other groups successfully opposed Mr. Osgood's plans to obtain permits for the first five homes at Naples from the county zoning administrator. Mr. Osgood has now agreed to prepare one comprehensive report on the environmental impacts of all 55 homes.
Mr. Osgood's properties on Mulholland, about 80 acres in all, lie in a scenic corridor bounded by state and national park land. It cost the public about $30 million to buy land for state and federal parks within a mile of the proposed homes. Project opponents and county officials alike viewed Hidden Estates as a throwback to a less careful time, when the construction of luxury housing tracts along Mulholland was encouraged.
In the 1980s and early '90s, the county approved housing tracts with sidewalks, front lawns and street lights along Mulholland, ruining the pastoral scenery of this gateway into the national recreation area. The area had been a favorite of stargazers because of the darkness at night.
One subdivision for 51 homes near Westlake Village, approved in the mid-'90s, was purchased in 2000 by Mr. Osgood. Houses are now under construction inside the national recreation area, on top of a population of Lyon's pygmydaisy, a rare herb. Years ago, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy sued the original owner and obtained some funding to preserve pygmydaisy habitat somewhere else. The state Department of Fish and Game has required Mr. Osgood to set aside six acres to save some of the plants.
In the pro-growth climate of the early 1990s, it was not unusual that Hidden Estates, with only 15 homes, was approved without comprehensive environmental review. The Park Service signed off on it, and so did the neighbors.
"That area has been a heartbreaking loss," said Melanie Beck, a National Park Service planner. "What was at one time a lovely canyon drive along Mulholland, where you could really see the creek, is now a suburban development."
If Mr. Osgood's proposal were being submitted for the first time now, county officials said, fewer than half the homes would likely be allowed.
From 2000 to 2002, the project opponents argued at every hearing on Hidden Estates that the county was "piecemealing" its review of the project in violation of state law.
"It's really out of keeping with good public policy," Ms. Beck said. "We were trying to clean up the wreckage of the past."
Mr. Osgood said his opponents brought up every possible complication to stop him from building. One woman, he said, told the county she had seen California red-legged frogs, a threatened species, in the creek. A study was done, and no frogs were found. There were no permanent ponds where they could live, and the creek was full of frog predators.
"I'm all for preserving certain lands," Mr. Osgood said. "But it's not going to be good to strip landowners of their property rights."
County planners said the oak tree stood too close to Mulholland and was slated for removal anyway, project or no project. They said the location, span and clearance of the bridge had been properly reviewed in 1992; that the design had not changed much since then; and that the bridge would not cause the water to rise any higher than usual during floods.
As part of his project, Mr. Osgood was required to donate a public trail and 20 acres of land to the Park Service. He will have to plant two oak trees to make up for the one he cut down. He also must obtain a permit from Fish and Game because a road to the new homes might harm a population of Lyon's pygmydaisy.
In January of this year, the Los Angeles County supervisors gave Mr. Osgood the go-ahead to begin construction, and the tree was felled.
"It's beyond disgusting," said Colleen Holmes, president of the Cornell Preservation Organization, which has members from Malibou Lake, Agoura Hills and Calabasas. "Nobody wants this project. They're going to put these big faux chateaux in there, and it's forever going to ruin that area. We're never going to get that back."
Ms. Holmes said she and her neighbors have learned some lessons from their experience with Hidden Estates.
"This is the biggest thing we've ever fought against," she said. "I think, now, that people are more aware of what they can lose. It's not NIMBY stuff at all. We're the watchdog of the community for future generations.
"This is God's country. If someone doesn't step up to the plate, every developer in town will bulldoze it."