EIR finished on new school in Agoura Hills
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) has completed a draft environmental impact report (EIR) on the relocation of Yerba Buena Elementary School in Agoura Hills, despite opposition by a private developer.

The school district wants Yerba Buena, a crowded, 33-year-old elementary school on Larboard Lane, to be moved to a new residential development being planned for the northern tip of Reyes Adobe Road in Agoura Hills.

The new Reyes Adobe Elementary School would take up almost half of the 27-acre development, but Pacific Heritage, an Irvine developer, wants all the land available for the construction of luxury homes, a more profitable undertaking.

LVUSD is having the property appraised and expects to make an offer soon on 11.8 acres of the Pacific Heritage site. If that offer is rejected, the school district can acquire the property through eminent domain, a legal move that enabled the taking of 31 acres of private land earlier this year in Calabasas for the construction of a new middle school.

Because the developer wasn’t cooperating, LVUSD had to obtain a court order to enter the property so an appraisal could be completed.

Many neighboring homeowners want the new school.

"I’m a concerned citizen and a frightened mother," said Diane Bidna in a letter to the Agoura Hills City Council. "What can we do to keep this developer from building un-needed homes and not sell this land to our schools?"

The EIR addressed concerns about school traffic being dumped onto Reyes Adobe Road in Agoura Hills and Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village.

The development site lies on the northeastern border of the city of Westlake Village, whose municipal officials want Reyes Adobe Road to function as the main access to the school because it will serve mostly Agoura Hills’ students.

At the site, Pacific Heritage plans to build 29 homes on the west side of Lindero Creek and 15 homes on the east side of the creek, with a bridge between the two neighborhoods. The proposed elementary school would knock out the 29-home portion of the development.

"To go in and jam all those homes onto the east side of the creek simply isn’t feasible," Gary Emsiek of Pacific Heritage told The Acorn recently.

The 40,000 square-foot school would include 24 classrooms for grades one through five and three kindergarten classes. Also planned is a 7,200 square-foot multi-purpose room. The school will have 30-35 teachers and parking for 104 cars.

The school’s 800 students would come from Yerba Buena initially. After the Reyes Adobe school opens in 2002, Lindero Canyon Middle School would take over the empty Yerba Buena buildings, which are adjacent the middle school.

LVUSD wants another new elementary school to be built at the New Millennium Homes development on Parkway Calabasas in Calabasas. A nine-acre site was dedicated for a school as part of the development agreement.

Donald Zimring, LVUSD deputy superintendent, said the New Millennium parcel should be in district hands by next fall.