Directly Refer To A Namespace That Import?

I have a bizarre vb.net problem.I'm working with a 3rd party library with a namespace called Telerik.Webcontrols. The library is in a web site project that I am in the process of converting to a web application project.

Telerik.WebControls contains a class called RadAjaxControl.In the original web site project, I have code that looks like this:

public sub page_load(...)
dim foo as Telerik.Webcontrols.RadAjaxControl

Once I convert to a web application project, it says that Telerik.Webcontrols doesn't exist.

However, the truly bizarre thing is that the following code does compile:

imports Telerik.WebControls public sub page_load(...)dim foo as RadAjaxControl