Let the record show, part 2

Toby Keeler can't seem to keep his stories straight.

He accuses the Calabasas City Council of defacing our scenic hillsides with inappropriate developments. He cites the Shea Homes project on Las Virgenes Road as a prime example of the "urban blight" our city never should have approved.

The inconvenient truth is that Keeler, as a former planning commissioner, cast the deciding vote in favor of the very project he now condemns.

When challenged with this fact at the Stone Creek Homeowners candidate forum, Keeler at first flatly denied it. When presented with documented evidence of his vote, Keeler changed his story, saying he didn't vote for the Shea Homes project itself but rather for the project proposed for that site by the previous developer, the Pazar Company. This answer isn't credible, since Shea Homes used Pazar's entitlements to build the same project.

At the subsequent greater Mulwood Homeowners candidate forum, Keeler changed his story again. Finally admitting he had voted for the Shea project, Keeler tried to explain this away by saying the project actually built was not the one he had approved as planning commissioner.

The planning records at city hall don't support Keeler's latest attempt to duck responsibility for his actions. The only real change between the proposed Pazar/Shea project that Keeler voted for and the actual development was a minor design revision to its retaining wall system.

It is hypocritical of Keeler to criticize incumbent council members for a project he describes as "blight" and a "wall of development" when he played a pivotal role in ensuring the approval of that very project.
Bob Ronka
Calabasas