Backers Foresee Contest With Agoura Hills Over Vacant Land : Calabasas Residents Step Up Campaign for Incorporation

Supporters of a future “City of Calabasas” have stepped up their fledgling incorporation movement, prompted by the efforts of nearby Agoura Hills to win clout over projects outside its city limits.

Advocates of cityhood for Calabasas said Friday that they may have to compete with Agoura Hills for control over thousands of vacant acres between the two communities west of the San Fernando Valley. Calabasas and Agoura Hills are affluent communities built on rolling terrain that is bisected by the Ventura Freeway. Each has about 3,000 homes and limited industrial and commercial bases. Residents of Agoura Hills incorporated their community 27 months ago after Calabasas residents declined to join them in a proposed “City of Las Virgenes.”

Supporters of the Calabasas movement said they will begin their campaign on April 25. They already have begun recruiting community leaders to serve as members of a cityhood feasibility study committee.

Their move comes after Agoura Hills announced plans to appeal Los Angeles County’s rejection of Agoura Hills’ request for a 6,000-acre “sphere of influence” encompassing undeveloped grazing land outside the 2-year-old city’s boundaries.

Spheres of influence are mandated by state law and are supposed to reflect the probable future boundaries of a city. Outlying territory that becomes part of a city’s sphere later can be annexed by the city.

Agoura Hills officials also interpret the designation of a sphere of influence to mean that a city is entitled to a voice over future development in the area.

The officials said Tuesday that they were appealing a January vote by the county Local Agency Formation Commission that gave Agoura Hills only a 12-acre sphere of influence. The sphere covers a 32-home subdivision that was recently built in county territory south of the city’s Liberty Canyon area.

Agoura Hills officials said they consider expansion of their sphere crucial to limit development in the area. They said that new projects at their doorstep will have a direct impact on their own municipal services such as parks and roads.

In appealing the county agency’s vote, Agoura Hills alleged that the action was invalid because county Supervisor Michael Antonovich--who sits on the commission as a county representative--had received campaign contributions in excess of $250 from developers in the sphere proposed by the city.

State law bars officials of any agency from accepting more than $250 from any person with a direct financial interest in an action pending before the agency.

Agoura Hills complained that Antonovich received contributions totaling $8,000 from three developers. Campaign contribution statements filed by Antonovich for the past two years, however, show that cash donations from the Oren Realty Co., the Currey-Riach Co. and Art Whizin Enterprises actually totaled $13,000.

The three companies have proposed residential and commercial projects on more than 1,000 acres of unincorporated land next to Agoura Hills.

Charges Called Groundless

Antonovich said the allegations are without merit because the law does not apply to votes on spheres of influence.

The Calabasas cityhood movement was launched late last year, soon after Agoura Hills filed its first application for a sphere of influence. At that time, Agoura Hills officials were seeking a 12,000-acre sphere that would have included about 1,000 acres at the western edge of Calabasas. The final application scaled back the city’s original request to a 6,000-acre sphere that included only 520 acres now considered part of Calabasas.

Louis Melson, one of the leaders of the Calabasas cityhood effort, said his group will look into incorporating approximately 11 square miles extending from the cities of Los Angeles and Hidden Hills on the east to Agoura Hills on the west.

The tentative Calabasas proposal includes half the area that Agoura Hills is seeking as its sphere of influence.

Not Owed ‘Everything’

“Agoura Hills feels they are entitled to everything and they’re not,” Melson said. “The Local Agency Formation Commission staff has said that Agoura Hills needs some future expansion space to annex, but not 6,000 acres.”

Melson said it will be up to the commission to referee any fight for land, particularly for a 475-acre area between Agoura Hills and Calabasas proposed for development by the Oren Realty Co. Oren, which has contributed $1,500 to Antonovich, has prepared plans for 1,000 homes and 75 acres of commercial structures on the site.