Calabasas Changes Sparking Concerns Over Ahmanson By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter A sudden shakeup in the legal team leading Calabasas’ fight against the Ahmanson Ranch development is causing some to question whether it could hurt the city’s case against the project. At the request of City Councilman Barry Groveman, elected in March, the council voted 3-2 April 30 to send all public contracts over $50,000 out for re-bids. That includes a contract with Katherine Stone, a private attorney who has represented the city on Ahmanson issues for more than a decade. The vote also included the contract with Calabasas City Attorney Charles Vose, who served in that capacity since the city’s incorporation in 1991. Vose, an attorney with the law firm of Oliver, Vose, Sandifer, Murphy and Lee, has since chosen to resign rather than re-bid for his position, but will remain in office until his replacement is named. Stone has declined to comment on the issue. Although city officials have all declined to say so on the record, she is also expected to step down sometime this month. Groveman said he made the motion for the changes because he believes many of the city’s outside contracts were not being handled efficiently and that some subcontracts handled by Stone were not substantiated with receipts. He said he remains firmly opposed to the Ahmanson development, a proposed 3,000-home,”mini-city” that would be built on the west end of the Valley, and that by bringing in a new legal team the council will show that the decision to renew contracts was a sound one. “This decision, which three council members supported, has absolutely nothing to do with our resolve to fight back the Ahmanson Ranch project,” said Groveman. “This is about the city of Calabasas taking control of the way this case is being managed.” But Groveman’s staunchest critic, former Calabasas Mayor Janice Lee, whom he beat in her recent bid for re-election, says the city should have conducted a review process on both Stone and Vose before the vote. Lee said replacing Stone would be costly and reckless, particularly because the county of Ventura is scheduled to turn over a 51,000-page administrative record this month outlining the case a document she says Stone essentially built from the ground up. “This is an absolute disaster,” said Lee. “You don’t change jockeys in the middle of a horse race. There is no way they can get someone with the history and knowledge that Katherine has on this issue and I’m very upset.” Lee, who served on the council from 1999 to March of this year, said it would likely cost the city roughly $100,000 to bring in a new attorney. Calabasas has already spent $1.8 million fighting Ahmanson over the last decade. Calabasas Mayor James Bozajian, who did not support the vote, agrees that changing attorneys at this stage in the game could be harmful but has vowed to carry out his colleagues’ decision. “I’m an attorney and I think it’s always harmful to any case whenever you switch attorneys mid-way because it can take a long time to get a new person up to speed,” said Bozajian, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. Coalition against Ahmanson Calabasas is embroiled in a joint suit to block Ahmanson with several entities, including the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Thousand Oaks, and several coalition groups, including Rally To Save Ahmanson Ranch. Tsilah Burman, that group’s executive director, immediately called for the council to retain Stone after the vote, but has since backed down from that position. “I’m not concerned,” said Burman. “Stone is one of six attorneys working on this case. Six months or so ago it may have been an issue because Calabasas was taking the lead. But now all the cities, the county and several groups are all joined together in opposing the project.” Thousand Oaks Assistant City Attorney Tim Giles called Stone’s record “impeccable” but declined to project what her dismissal from the case could mean. “She’s done what I believe to be an excellent job of framing the issues for the courts to decide for, not on the city of Calabasas, but all the cities that are going to be impacted by the project,” said Giles. “But my crystal ball doesn’t allow me to say more than that.” Eric Moses, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said the joint suit would continue, regardless of the Calabasas changes. “We look forward to working with whomever they choose to replace their lawyer on this case and we understand that they intend to continue to fight the project,” he said. Lee is not so convinced. She said the council’s once solidly united front against Ahmanson appears to be softening, particularly in light of the contract changes. Uphill battle? For example, she points out that City Councilman Michael Harrison has gone on record as saying that he doesn’t think Ahmanson can be beaten in court and has publicly called for a new strategy based on mitigation rather than litigation. Harrison also supported the contract changes. In addition, Lee says Groveman has failed to disclose that a $200 donation to his campaign in 2000 for Los Angeles County district attorney came from an attorney, Charles Cohen, who has since joined the law firm representing Washington Mutual, parent firm of the Ahmanson Land Company. “What’s motivating this new city council to do these things,” said Lee. “Six months ago we all agreed that Ahmanson Ranch was our number one priority.” Groveman called the reference to the contribution, which does appear on his 2000 campaign contribution report, “ridiculous,” and suggested that Lee was suffering from a case of sour grapes. Lee waged a divisive campaign against Groveman in her bid for re-election, ultimately coming in fourth place. He says she has rebuffed his efforts since to bury the hatchet. Lee’s time on the city council was also marked by controversy: following an acrimonious council meeting in August of 2001 she offered up her resignation as mayor and stormed out of council chambers. Three city council members, including Bozajian, voted two weeks later to reinstate her. Harrison, however, abstained from the vote.