Incumbents will be challenged in Calabasas
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Two more candidates will join incumbents Barry Groveman and Dennis Washburn on the ballot for the Calabasas City Council election March 6.

Toby Keeler and Dale Reicheneder filed papers for the local election and began their campaigns by expressing concern about the boom in city development.

Keeler is co-founder of the Old Topanga Homeowners Association and has served as a planning commissioner and threeterm president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation.

His name appears on the Wall of Honor at City Hall.

Keeler counts open space as a major priority in Calabasas.

The "remaining undeveloped open space is what makes our small city such a desirable place to live," Keeler said. "Once it's gone, it's gone forever, and Calabasas becomes like the rest of the (San Fernando) Valley.

"More development not only means less open space. It translates into more traffic, overcrowded schools, a diminished quality of life and lower property values."

Keeler criticized the council for granting lot-line adjustments to developers without notifying adjacent property owners, and for allowing some developments to be exempt from environmental review.

"Despite pledges to state parks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, new construction in Calabasas is plainly visible from Malibu Creek State Park," Keeler said.

Reicheneder said he has been a happy Calabasas resident for eight years, but is "concerned about the type of growth" the city is experiencing.

"As a practicing lawyer in the construction industry, I have seen how unregulated development can ruin communities," Reicheneder said. "I would like to help stop this ever-increasing trend of rubberstamping commercial and large-scale residential development in our city."

Reicheneder said the development is overburdening roads and "changing once quiet residential streets into heavy traffic thoroughfares." He pledged to increase access to the city's parklands and trails.