Calabasas OKs Proposal for 250 Luxury Houses

A controversial proposal to build a gated community of 250 luxury houses in the Santa Monica Mountains has won a stamp of approval from Calabasas, the small city that incorporated last year because of fears the county would allow uncontrolled growth.

The City Council’s actions came just a week after some observers contended that some Calabasas officials, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the National Park Service had gone out of their way to praise the project proposed by Micor Ventures Inc. The reason, some insiders believe, is that the Micor development could block a far more controversial project--the proposed expansion of Soka University.

But the five Calabasas council members focused on other aspects of the project during a public hearing on Wednesday that attracted about 100 people.

The council members voted unanimously to approve an environmental impact report and associated agreements and permits that set the stage for the project, including a plan to change the zoning to allow construction of more than three times the 81 houses now allowed. They also approved a development agreement specifying that Micor will have eight years to build the development and provide the city with $1.7 million for various projects, including a community center and park.

Also, Micor has already agreed to pay nearly $2.5 million in additional funds to other community agencies for such projects as a school district computer lab.

“We’ve thrown obstacles and all kinds of hoops in front of Mr. Rosenfeld,” Councilman Marvin Lopata said of Micor President Michael B. Rosenfeld. “Every hoop that we put there, he jumped higher.”

Micor’s land is outside Calabasas and plans to annex the site must be carried out before Micor can proceed with the project, which would be clustered on 298 acres of the 939-acre site. More than 600 acres would be reserved permanently in a natural state.

Micor was praised at the hearing for preserving the land and for positioning houses out of sight of Las Virgenes Road.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the mountains conservancy, said scientists had determined that the 250-unit project would do less harm than 81 houses spread over the entire area. “This project, while it has more units, clusters them in a way as to minimize the impact,” Edmiston said.

Some people, however, opposed the project, which would involve major land alteration, with about 7.5 million cubic yards of grading in the developed areas.

“The mountains are degraded one decision at a time, one up-zoning at a time, one indiscretion at a time,” said Siegfried Othmer of Save Open Space, a group dedicated to preserving open space. Othmer questioned whether the council was operating under “implicit understandings” made with the developer before the city was incorporated.

Mayor Dennis Washburn took issue with the suggestion, saying: “If there is any concern there is taint on this issue, I want to dispel it. This has been a very open and exhaustive process.”

Neal D. Braunstein of the state Department of Parks and Recreation questioned the adequacy of the environmental report and said the city failed to provide his department with proper notification of the report 10 days before certifying it, as required by state law. Lopata said the city attorney had been satisfied with the process.

Braunstein’s colleague, Suzanne Goode, said the project was proposed for the site’s most environmentally sensitive area and that conclusions drawn in the draft environmental report varied from conclusions previously drawn from the same data. She said the firm hired to prepare the report had previously worked for Micor.

Lopata later said the report incorporated more data than Goode had considered, and that the city had exercised care in hiring consultants to prepare the environmental report.

Observers and insiders also have suggested that the Micor plan might be seen as a means of stopping Soka’s proposed expansion of its campus on Mulholland Highway to accommodate 4,400 students. Opponents of the plan by the university, situated south of the city limits, believe that the school’s expansion would increase traffic. They want the campus turned into a park.

The Micor project involves the donation to the conservancy of a strip alongside about one-third of a mile of Las Virgenes Road. Conservancy officials have said if they controlled that strip they would not allow it to be used to widen the road. Some also say the university would not be allowed to expand unless the two-lane road, the main access to the campus, can be widened to accommodate increased traffic.

Edmiston said the conservancy and Micor began planning the land donation before Soka announced its plans. Rosenfeld has said Micor is not involved in an attempt to stop Soka.

NEXT STEP

Micor must now apply to the Local Agency Formation Committee to have its land annexed to Calabasas. If the commission approves the annexation, the Calabasas City Council will consider granting final approval for construction of the housing development.