Old Agoura receives SOS in fight against development

By Stephanie Bertholdo  bertholdo@theacorn.com

The environmental group Save Open Space hopes its past success in preserving thousands of acres of land from urban development will help in the broader fight to stop construction of Triangle Ranch and Heschel West Day School.

Both developments are proposed for an unincorporated area of Agoura Hills, and both have been approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Mary Wiesbrock, president of SOS, announced the organization will join forces with the Cornell Preservation Organization as lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county to stop Triangle Ranch. Wiesbrock also announced SOS intentions to join with the Old Agoura Homeowners Association in its fight to stop development of the Jewish day school near the equestrian community.

Triangle Ranch

The Board of Supervisors approved Triangle Ranch, a custom 61-home development planned near Ladyface Mountain and the Cornell area, on July 31 after a decade of wrangling with developers, residents and environmental groups.

Wiesbrock and CPO President Colleen Holmes say Triangle Ranch violates the North Area Plan (NAP), a document approved in October 2000 to rein in development in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The groups also believe the project breaches California Environmental Quality Act mandates. A CEQA lawsuit was filed in November by environmental attorney Frank Angel. Additional documents were filed in December based on what Angel alleges are North Area Plan violations.

Ironically, Zev Yaroslavsky, the county supervisor who is considered the founding father of the North Area Plan, paved the way for the board's approval of Triangle Ranch, albeit with numerous conditions. Among the mitigations are green practices, protection of endangered plant and animal species, and other concessions.

The Triangle property is owned by descendents of the original investors, including Bruce Whizin, son of the late Art Whizin of Whizin's Mall renown.

The opponents don't believe Yaroslavsky's protections go far enough. Holmes said the project violates the NAP because it is "suburban, rather than rural, in character," which doesn't mesh with the rural mountain community. Moreover, Triangle Ranch will obscure mountain views, particularly of Ladyface Mountain.

". . . (The) cover of the North Area Plan has Ladyface Mountain gracing the front cover," Holmes said. "The photo was taken viewing Ladyface Mountain across the Triangle Ranch property. This shows how beautiful the property is.

"This is the first development to test the NAP's true grit as law," Holmes said.

Wiesbrock said the Triangle Ranch and Heschel projects impact the integrity of the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area. "Triangle Ranch is at the entrance of the (mountain recreation area) and is part of the east/west wildlife corridor."

Holmes said Triangle Ranch was the only project within the plan area that received board approval for an increase in density.

"Although CPO does agree that Zev did help reduce the footprint and quantity of houses from 135 homes to 61 homes, this delicate area still cannot support 61 homes," Holmes said. "The footprint alone is still too massive and will involve extensive grading and further degradation of the creek."

Private school, toxic land?

Jess Thomas, president of the Old Agoura Homeowners Association, told Agoura Hills City Council members in December that Save Open Space has agreed to a partnership with the homeowners group to stop Heschel West School from being built.

Opponents of the school plan to fight the development from many angles. Old Agoura residents who oppose the school don't believe it is compatible with their equestrian community and fear the school would create noise and pose safety hazards due to increased traffic and lack of access routes.

The city of Agoura Hills doesn't want to shoulder the financial burden for required road improvements, city officials have said in past reports.

Save Open Space will jump into the fray based on environmental concerns. Wiesbrock said SOS has had a longtime goal of preserving the 70-acre Heschel property as open space.

"We do not want to see a school with 750 kids at that site," Wiesbrock said. "It's too near the unlined Calabasas 'toxic' landfill (and) poses a potential safety danger for these children."

The site, Wiesbrock said, is within a half-mile of the unlined portion of the Calabasas landfill. She said that tests completed in 1990 confirmed that landfill chemicals were problematic.

Wiesbrock believes a health assessment of the land is warranted, alleging there are toxic chemicals in sections of the landfill that are unlined, substances in containers that are permeable and prone to leakage.

Wiesbrock said past testing was done on portions of the landfill off Liberty Canyon and that tests were not conducted for landfill chemicals.

"Hundreds of thousands of tons are still there now," Wiesbrock said of the waste she alleges could directly threaten the health of children at the school.

"Toxic waste breaks down, but gas can be produced and come into the classroom," Wiesbrock said.

When asked whether toxic soil would be just as hazardous to Old Agoura residents, Wiesbrock said the school would be the closest to the site and and more suspectible to health risks.

At the Nov. 27 Board of Supervisors meeting, Los Angeles Department of Public Works representative Dennis Hunter addressed toxicity. He said the landfill is operated by the County Sanitation District and has a monitoring system in place.

"Within the last six months, during grading, they encountered ground water, and public works asked for water quality tests of that ground water," Hunter said. "And the results came back not indicating that there were any constituents of concern."

"The site has been extensively evaluated and determined to be safe," said Rick Wentz, a spokesperson for Heschel. "The county considered this issue resolved."