A 17-year battle between developers and environmentalists comes to an end as 2,800-acre Ahmanson Ranch is sold to the state for $150 million.
"The tentative $150-million deal with landowner Washington Mutual, confirmed Monday, would block development on one of the largest remaining tracts of privately owned land in the mountains that ring the San Fernando Valley (CA)... The Ahmanson Ranch project was the darling of urban planners and even some environmentalists when first proposed in 1986.But the development by the nation's largest savings and loan placed on a collision course two powerful imperatives of California politics the push for so-called smart growth that puts badly needed new housing close to jobs, and the pull of a growing grass-roots movement to preserve dwindling open space."
Thanks to Chris Steins
FULL STORY: State to Buy Ahmanson as Preserve

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