City buys Reyes Adobe open space

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers 'I NOW DECLARE THIS SPACE OPEN'—Agoura Hills Mayor John Edelston, center, cuts a ceremonial green ribbon along with other local and state officials to dedicate the Lindero Creek Open Space on Nov. 21. The 18.3-acre parcel is adjacent to Yerba Buena Elementary School. The rolling hills, creek bed and ancient oak trees in a secluded area at the end of Reyes Adobe Road in Agoura Hills was declared permanent open space at a Nov. 21 ribbon-cutting on the 18.3-acre parcel.

The land was left vacant by the Las Virgenes Unified School District after the construction of the new Yerba Buena Elementary School. After 10 years of offandon negotiations, the city of Agoura Hills finally took possession of the parcel.

Mayor John Edelston called the city's newest open space an "excellent living laboratory" for Yerba Buena students because it is in the school's own "backyard."

Edelston said the land will be a "natural park" with trails that link to the Rancho Simi trail system. The city hopes to install fitness trails within the park.

Edelston said the land acquisition augments the city's open space by 30 percent. Two thousand of the total 5,000 acres that form the city of Agoura Hills is now open space, Edelston said. Protected land amounts to 41 percent of all city property.

The land had initially been targeted for high-density housing.

"There is no better way to close out my term than to preside over this 18.3acre land acquisition," said Edelston, whose term as mayor ends next month.

School board member Dave Moorman said the Agoura Hills City Council members have proven that they "value the stewardship of (the) planet."

Former Agoura Hills Mayor Ed Corridori said he was struck by the land's "tremendous beauty" and seclusion. The creek, which is temporarily fenced, is "enchanted," he said.

Corridori is credited with convincing the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that the land was worth preserving.

In May 2004 a bear was captured near the property, a fitting symbol of an area that is still a viable habitat for a wide range of animals, Corridori said.

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky called the land the "prize jewel and crown of the county." He said acquiring property in the Santa Monica Mountains requires a partnership between public agencies."

The city contributed $1.6 million for the land, while Yaroslavsky's office, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the office of U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) secured $747,000 worth of grants for the purchase.

The dedication ceremony was attended by numerous dignitaries, including a representative from U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman's office and past and present members of the Agoura Hills City Council.

Several past and present members of the Las Virgenes school board also attended the ceremony, as did representatives from the office of Assemblymember Julia Brownley and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Former Agoura Hills Mayor Louise Rishoff, who is now Brownley's executive director, said that all of the oak trees on the property would have been bulldozed had homes been constructed on the site.

"Look at what a treasure we've preserved," Rishoff said.

Ron Schaffer, chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, told the audience that the mountain range in their backyard is one of only five Mediterranean ecosystems in the world.

"There is more biodiversityh erethananywhereonth eplanet," Schaffer said, referring to the area as an "ecological hot spot."

"It's an historic moment," Yaroslavsky said.