Triangle Ranch put on hold

Developer 'surprised' that custom homes

aren't desired

A decision on Triangle Ranch, a custom home development proposed for an area off Kanan and Cornell roads, was indefinitely postponed last week by the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning.

The Cornell Preservation Organization (CPO) took a lead role in opposing the project, which neighbors Agoura Hills, and sent a bus with more than three dozen people to attend the meeting in Los Angeles.

Though the developer, Sage Community Group, has continued to chisel down the scope of is plans, CPO President Colleen Holmes and other environmental groups insist that the project violates the Santa Monica Mountains North Area Plan and threatens sensitive and endangered animal and plant species in the mountain areas.

Developers initially wanted to build 245 homes in several enclaves on 320 acres near the city boundary of Agoura Hills, but have been forced by regional planners to reduce the project's scope several times.

The developers have dropped the number of homes by groups of 10, with the latest plan calling for 61 homes, but the lion's share of the property is designated as open space.

Even at 61 homes, the project's density isn't low enough under the North Area Plan, which was designed to rein in rampant development in rural areas.

Holmes said that in addition to the opponents who came to speak to the planning commissioners, she brought in about 50 letters of opposition to the project to be entered into the public record.

Agoura Hills Director of Planning and Community Development Mike Kamino and Agoura Hills Planning Commissioner Phil Ramuno also attended the meeting. Holmes said a member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy also spoke against the project.

Holmes said Sage has met with her organization over the past six months, and has hired landscape architect Mia Lehrer & Associates, a firm known for its expertise in ecologically sensitive areas, but said the builder still hasn't responded adequately to community input.

"They sandbagged us," Holmes said.

The department's decision was a blow to Sage Community Group, and investors in the land, which was purchased in 1958 by 38 people, including Vance Moran and Art Whizin, who were instrumental in the early development of Agoura.

Former local resident Moran, 83, continues to serve as president of Beautiful City Holding Co. from Covington, La., where he retired last year. Moran is best known as the landlord and cofounder, with the late Art Whizin, of Whizin's Center in Agoura Hills. Art's son, Bruce, now oversees the Whizin's operation. Heirs to the property total in the hundreds today.

"Basically they have to go back to the drawing board," Holmes said. She said commissioner Hal Helsley of the third district called for more detailed plans, and said that he didn't want views of Ladyface Mountain blocked.

"He doesn't want to see the Cornell viewshed, sweeping across the Medea Creek and valley into the sensitive ecological area blocked," Holmes said.

"We were a bit surprised at the action, given the favorable staff report and recommendation to approve the 66 lot plan and close the public hearing," Sage spokesperson Penny Boehm said.

Boehm said Helsley failed to hear all of the public testimony and that Sage was not given any time to rebut the concerns raised by Holmes' group and area residents.

Only two people spoke in favor of the development, according to Holmes. One was a rabbi who was an original investor in the property, and the other was an heir to the property who said the development complied with the North Area Plan.

"Also, a bit surprising was the fact that Mayor Denis Weber was supportive of the project a year ago, and that was before we worked with the community and the planning staff to actually improve the project. He now voted with his peers to oppose the development, much to the surprise of Vance Moran and the team," Boehm said.

Sage was urged by commissioners to complete detailed landscape plans that show elevational viewshed of the project from different locales, and a "fuel modification plan" that depicts all of the areas that will be impacted by the development, including sensitive species and riparian habitats.

In 2005, it was specified that Sage must show plans for the redesign of Medea Creek. Helsley reiterated the requirement and noted nine specific lots that he believed would have an impact on sensitive species. Helsley also had concerns about grading.

"In other words, he wants the plan to go back to the drawing board," Holmes said.

Helsley, a Calabasas resident, was appointed to the panel in 2000 by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was instrumental in the passage of the North Area Plan.

"We left feeling mighty happy," Holmes said. "Obviously this is not the end, it's just a slow down."

Triangle Ranch developers don't plan to give up on their investment. Boehm stressed that even in light of all of the obstacles, "we can say that we'll be back."