Calabasas City Council at odds over future city hall
By Gregory Koteles
Special to The Acorn

The Calabasas City Council has found another reason to disagree.

The city’s proposed civic center, which Councilman Dennis Washburn called a "monument to division," was one of the items on the council’s Sept. 19 agenda.

Having commissioned Gonzalez Goodale Architects of Pasadena to prepare conceptual design work for the planned structure, the council decided not to consider the plans in open forum until a third-party consultant provides his service. At the invitation of City Councilman Michael Harrison, Michael Freedman, a San Francisco attorney specializing in civil center master planning, spoke at the meeting and pitched his firm’s participation in the project.

Offering to help facilitate improved planning by acting as the city’s advocate and promising to "hold the architect’s feet to the fire," Freedman also candidly "guaranteed" that his firm’s involvement would add "months of delay." The postponement would be the result of Freedman having to "play catch-up" and learning what the council was seeking in a civic center. However, Freedman added that his involvement would ultimately result in a city hall, library and theater complex with which the city would be happy.

Planning Commissioner Lee VanHouton said Freedman’s counsel would offer the city a range of choices and provide "a good solution to the problems I foresee."

However, Susan Feller and Fred Gaines of the library commission, expressed an opposite view.

"Before the architects even get up to speak, you’re saying we need a mediator," said Gaines at the meeting. He maintained that the council should review the architects’ plans in a public forum before "publicly coming to loggerheads."

Feller was concerned with the project’s price tag.

"When I started on this project, we were talking $12 million to $15 million," she said. The latest estimates put the budget closer to $25 million.

Mayor Janice Lee, likewise, was concerned that the civic center appeared to have no "ceiling in terms of budget" and no cohesive design.

"We need a realistic understanding of what we’re going to build, not what we dream about," said Lee.

She was against hiring Freedman and "spending potentially $100,000 to get us (the council) to agree."

"What if we go through this process and end up in the same place?" she asked.

Despite the protestations of Lee, Gaines and Philips, the council voted 4-1 to retain Freedman and have his firm prepare a report on its scope of service.

Representatives of Gonzalez Goodale Architects were present, but didn’t speak at the meeting.