BLOWING IN THE WIND—An endangered plant known as Braunton’s milkvetch still grows in an open area of the proposed Lang Ranch Park off Westlake Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. A hearty plant, it grows in soil of clay, sand and small gravel above a water table that lies between 3 and 5 feet below the surface. Despite the inhospitable habitat, it has remained relatively stable. Conejo Recreation and Park District won’t have to pay $366,000 in legal costs sought by opponents of its efforts to build Lang Ranch Park.

But CRPD decided not to appeal the July decision of Ventura County Superior Court judge Glen Reiser, who ruled that the 44-acre park plans violate the California Environmental Quality Act and the city’s General Plan. The district also won’t appeal the judge’s order on Aug. 17 telling it to pay $202,780 for opponents’ legal fees.

“It was a small victory for us. They were asking $366,000 for legal fees,” CRPD general manager Jim Friedl said.

The legal fees go back to July, when Reiser found that CRPD violated state environmental law by failing to look at solutions to light and noise problems. The district’s park plans also failed to protect one Braunton’s milkvetch plant, a federally endangered species.

“We’re going to hire an engineer to help us avoid the plant. We’re going to do the right thing,” Friedl said.

During an inspection of the site last week, park officials couldn’t locate the endangered plant. Botanist Cathleen Weigard went to the site on Monday and found it.

“There it was in all it’s milkvetch glory,” she said. The plant blends in with the nearby sage. It’s alive, but it’s brown, dried out and looks dead, she said.

CRPD found the plant two years ago, Friedl said, but it wasn’t present in a 2003 aerial photo. In fact, no vegetation at all was seen in the area where the endangered plant now grows. That area had been graded.

The milkvetch doesn’t like other plant competition, Friedl said.

According to the judge, the park project is too big to be considered a community park, and an amendment to the General Plan would be needed. The size was going to be 52 acres; now it will be 50 acres or less, Friedl said.

Six baseball fields for Thousand Oaks Little League are planned for the first phase of the park, the only phase currently funded.

That’s good news for John Short, park board director and president of Thousand Oaks Little League.

Little League has been playing nearby at Colina Middle School on Avenida de Las Flores for more than 20 years. Since it started there, two 10,000squarefoot buildings have been erected, taking up what used to be field area, he said.

“We need Lang Ranch Park desperately for baseball, horseback, volleyball, tennis, basketball, picnics and hikes for the young and old,” Short said.

Tennis courts, park benches, playgrounds and picnic tables would be part of a later phase.

Those amenities, along with walking trails, a community center and roller hockey and basketball courts, were planned for a portion of the 124 acres between Erbes Road, Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard.

The $23million project received $5 million from the Thousand Oaks City Council earlier this year.

CRPD has continued to take core and soil samples of the site to better understand what’s going on underground regarding earth movement in the area.

“The court has allowed us to continue to do environmental stuff,” Friedl said.

Also, noise studies will be redone and the outdoor lighting will be reconsidered, he said.

“We’ll do what the court has asked us to do.

“We’ll use the court’s ruling as a road map,” Friedl said.