Homeowners Express Concerns Over School

Voicing fears about clogged roads and a cluttered landscape, about 40 residents of Mountain View Estates in Calabasas testified Wednesday against a proposed boarding school at a packed county hearing on the project.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission is considering whether to grant Mesivta of Greater Los Angeles permits to build a Jewish Orthodox boys’ school on Mureau Road in unincorporated Calabasas. In the meantime, officials of the school, which had 10 students last year, are seeking permission to increase enrollment to 27 in September.

Urging the commission to require a full environmental impact report on the proposed expansion, the homeowners, their attorney and their hired environmental experts described the project as an unaccredited school that would significantly affect a sensitive site speckled with oak trees. Contending that Mesivta should have obtained the conditional use permit it now seeks before ever beginning operating, Nick Brestoff, an attorney representing the homeowners, said the school’s operation “turns the law on its head.”

“Mesivta is in violation and comes to this body with unclean hands,” Brestoff said.

The county has granted the school a waiver to continue operating while its permit applications are being considered.

About 175 people attended the hearing, which the commission continued until Sept. 2 to allow more testimony.

The majority of the audience supported the school.

County case planner Julie Moore provided the commission with figures comparing the size and impact of the proposed school, which may eventually serve 150 students, and the nearby Mountain View Estates development, which has 385 homes.

To expand the existing school, which sits on an 8 1/2-acre lot, 24 oak trees would need to be removed, Moore said. When completed, the campus would generate about 32 car trips per day, she said. By contrast, the construction of the 823-acre Mountain View Estates uprooted 218 oaks and generates about 3,970 daily car trips.

Hidden Hills Mayor Stuart Siegel told the commission that the school needs to be redesigned but should be allowed to continue operating. Steve Craig, the environmental coordinator for Calabasas, urged the commission to require an environmental impact report for the project.

Afterward, Rabbi Shlomo Gottesman, the school’s director, expressed confidence the county would eventually approve the project, calling the hearing “another positive step forward in the process.”