Boundaries Set as Calabasas Moves to Cityhood : Incorporation: Officials are expected to approve independence for 14 square miles and 27,000 residents in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Government officials who oversee creation of new cities agreed on boundaries for the proposed city of Calabasas Wednesday and made it clear they support independence for the affluent community just west of the San Fernando Valley.

But those officials, members of the Local Agency Formation Commission, withheld official approval so the Calabasas Cityhood Committee and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works could work out an agreement on the eventual extension of Calabasas Road, a thoroughfare county planners call crucial to relieving traffic along the Ventura Freeway corridor.

The hearing will resume Aug. 8, when the commission is expected approve the incorporation of 14 square miles and 27,000 residents in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The new city would be roughly bounded by Las Virgenes Road on the west, Topanga Canyon on the east, the Ventura Freeway on the north, and undeveloped mountains to the south.

“It’s apparent everyone favors Calabasas cityhood,” said commission Chairman Thomas E. Jackson, predicting that the issue could be placed before voters next spring if it wins the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

“We wish you the best of luck and, hopefully, you’ll vote in favor of it,” Jackson said.

About 150 Calabasas residents, who attended the 2 1/2-hour hearing at county headquarters wearing bright green and pink “cityhood” buttons, applauded the commission’s comments. Cityhood leaders, whose attempts to incorporate in 1981 and 1988 failed, said they had learned the hard way not to celebrate prematurely.

“I’d rather wait until Aug. 8th to pop a cork,” said Arnold Sank, a member of the cityhood committee.

Committee President Bob Hill agreed, saying he planned to celebrate Wednesday night by “looking over tract maps.”

The last attempt at incorporation failed after the commission found that the proposed city lacked the tax base to be financially solvent, and a prominent developer took legal steps to block cityhood out of fear of a building moratorium.

But this year, a fiscal analysis by the commission’s staff found new auto dealerships were creating enough revenue to provide a budget surplus in the proposed city’s first four years. Community activists, meanwhile, negotiated an agreement with the Irvine-based Baldwin Co. not to oppose plans for a residential development in exchange for the firm’s support.

Eight properties were excluded from the proposed city, including the Malibu Terrace residential project north of the freeway, the Montevideo Country Club in Topanga Canyon and Woodland Park Mobile Estates.

Spokesmen for the excluded properties said they feared a newly elected City Council would impose a building moratorium and rent control, although cityhood leaders denied they had such plans.

Two exclusions drew no objections from the cityhood committee--the county landfill in Calabasas and a proposed residential project just east of Las Virgenes Road whose developer, Micor Ventures Inc. of Los Angeles, has promised to annex the site to Calabasas when its 250 single-family homes are completed.

But Hill lamented the exclusion of the other properties, most of them vacant tracts whose owners are negotiating with the county over development plans. “We really think that since they’re within or close to the boundaries, it would be better if the city had a role in the development that’s going on.” Hill said Calabasas would be affected by resulting traffic.

Although homeowner groups have opposed the extension of Calabasas Road, Hill and public-works officials said they expect to negotiate an agreement by the Aug. 8 hearing.

County plans also call for eventual extension of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, but the new portion of that road was excluded from Calabasas’ boundaries Wednesday. The two roads flank the Ventura Freeway to the north and south. “All we’re trying to do is assure the right of way will be there to build these roads when the appropriate time comes,” said Carl Blum, a deputy director of public works.

He said there were no immediate plans to expand Calabasas Road, although planners have proposed extending it west about five miles to Las Virgenes Road.