Heschel West president wasn’t being accurate

In his letter to the editor in the April 10 Acorn, Brian Greenberg, president of Heschel West School, stated that a public hearing was held on March 24 and evidenced a "continuity" of communications within our community demonstrated by good manners and good neighbors.

However, why should one expect anything less?

In a community of mature, creative, and professional individuals and residents, it would be politically incorrect to suggest otherwise; there should not be a political issue here.

Dr. Greenberg claims that the participation at the planning board hearing, indeed a fabulous turnout, has brought support from community leaders from the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Westlake Village. When in fact, the city of Calabasas wrote and filed a very strong condemnation of this project, and suggested that it is not the appropriate site for such a project, and that it was not appropriately presented in the Draft Environmental Impact Report.

Dr. Greenberg also failed to point out that the city of Agoura was represented by its director of planning, who submitted documentation and testimony to the effect that "no way" does this project fit within the general plan of the city of Agoura Hills, nor does it contemplate the traffic design, nor present adequate assurances and responses that it would meet the needs of the city of Agoura Hills. At the hearing was a considerable presentation on behalf of the Heschel West School that it would be a "good neighbor" and that the school will work and will succeed because they have a right to build.

Let’s not be blinded by political or emotional appeals. It is the obligation of the proponents and those requesting conditional use permits via a Draft Environmental Impact Report, to substantiate that right; to establish the proof within the California Environmental Quality Act.

Dr. Greenberg states that Heschel should be a part of the community and "community cannot be defined by a few streets or by one school but rather by the complex interactions that occur in neighborhoods, businesses, schools, parks, clubs and the many other things that we all do in our lives." This is precisely the point why an Environmental Impact Report is done.

A landowner may believe he has a right to build, and this may have been the case in days of open space and less impacts.

But today it is a right governed by laws, ordinances and regulations. It is a privilege and the respect for the rights of others. This school should not be built because it is a "good neighbor" or a convenience for the parents who live far away from other Heschel West facilities, but only and solely because the impact that this facility will have on the community is less than significant; that it will fit into the "complex interactions that occur in neighborhoods, businesses, schools, parks, clubs and the many other things that we all do in our lives."

George Colman

Old Agoura