Offer made to settle Los Arboles
By Jesse Phelps

The much-maligned Los Arboles development on South Montgomery Street finally received a green light of sorts from Judge Melinda Johnson earlier this month, but with the threat of further legal entanglements on the horizon, developers Lance Smigel and Lois Rice have attempted to make an end run.

The pair has tendered a settlement offer via a private letter to Stanley Greene and Ivor Benci-Woodward of the Citizens to Preserve the Ojai and Russ Baggerly of the Environmental Defense Coalition. Those two groups have actively petitioned to stop Los Arboles on grounds that it does not meet city zoning and traffic ordinances.

The letter, dated Feb. 18, offers to settle all current lawsuits for $120,000 and sets a date of Feb. 23 for reply. Sources confirmed that the figure includes $40,000 to cover attorneys' fees and another $80,000 earmarked for a "community benefits fund," which could be used at the discretion of the two groups for the betterment of Ojai.

"It was a settlement offer, away from the attorneys, from Lois and myself, to the petitioners to break the legal logjam," said Smigel. "It's become apparent through all the litigation, that the project hasn't changed. So for all the petitioners' efforts, and our money, they've only gained a delay. With that in mind, we tried to put a monetary value on putting it behind us."

In yet another strange twist in the saga of Los Arboles, as of press-time, none of the agencies involved consented to share the letter itself with the Ojai Valley News, though many involved parties were forthcoming regarding its content.
City Attorney Monte Widders characterized the letter as "exempt public record," as it involves ongoing current litigation. The city would not release the details of the letter based on his recommendation.

"For our part, we'd like not to reveal the details of the letter until we've heard from the petitioners," said Smigel.

Russ Baggerly of the Environmental Defense Coalition said the petitioners had received the letter and would offer a response after press-time yesterday, but he expressed concern that if he handed over the document itself, his organization might be easily accused of seeking publicity.
Baggerly said the offer on the table is "considerably more than the first settlement offer they tendered in Los Arboles 1. In that suit, they offered 25,000, which we declined. We told them the issue was never about money. We had legitimate concerns about the density and intensity of the project and its consistency with the general plan."

Rice confirmed the offer, adding that she expected a response on Tuesday, per its terms. "We did send them a settlement letter and they have to respond by today (Tuesday)."

"We believe it's a good project and we also believe very strongly that, based on Judge Melinda Johnson's partial ruling, that we win the suit and are going to have the right to build the project," Rice said. "We think that the fight has gone on long enough and, in order to stop spending money and time on lawyers, we decided to make a very generous offer to the petitioners."

"It took the form of a ... gift, well that's a bad word," Smigel said. "More accurately, a means for the petitioners to do civic work."

Smigel remains upbeat about the project but said he regrets that the city has been put in a compromising position. "It's on their behalf, as well as Los Arboles, that we made the offer," he said. "We feel terrible about the way that the city's been treated and spoken of. The purpose is to put it behind us and let the city council stop wasting so many resources on litigation and let them get to the business of running the city."

Baggerly scoffed at the notion that money is the central issue, adding that the offered sum was inadequate. "I don't even think you could put up a new flower box at the post office for that amount. And that's all they offered. They refused to reduce the number or size of the units.
Essentially, they ignored all of our substantive concerns."
He said the reply letter would clarify that "a true compromise requires the giving up of something from both sides. Their offer of a monetary settlement is very limited for a true compromise. Although we did offer the opportunity to continue negotiations in the spirit of a true compromise, they would have to provide us with ideas of how to alleviate the objections we have voiced about the project since the beginning."

Benci-Woodward, CPO president, said "We're not for sale. And neither is the environment."

Rice sees it differently. "We feel that we're going to win, but in order to get to the very end, we'd rather settle now," she said. "Rather than spending money on lawyers, we thought it would be more beneficial for them to spend it, at their discretion, for projects that would be for the betterment, to enhance, the city. We think it's a very generous offer and it's sincere. We want to see an end to this."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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