Heschel school unable to find alternative site

Over the last few months, there have been several letters to the editor claiming that Heschel West "would not even consider" an alternative site offered by Old Agoura. This is unfortunate because they ignore some very positive collaborative work between Heschel West and Old Agoura, something we should all hope to see more of in the future.

I know that to be true because I personally toured the property with representatives of the OAHA. We walked on the land for a few hours, spoke about it for another hour and even had dinner to discuss it further. And, as promised, the Heschel West board carefully considered this alternative at its next board meeting.

Unfortunately, it was not a viable alterative. When compared to our current site, it was a tenth of the acreage, a fifth of the building size, did not have play fields, was not entitled for a school and had access that was not superior to our Chesebro site.

Over the years, Heschel West has continuously looked for alternative sites even though our current site is perfect for our school. We've looked because we are eager to finish developing a permanent site for children to learn. While we have tired in earnest and have looked literally at dozens of site, no viable alternatives have arisen.

It is for this and many other reasons that both the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have voted unanimously to support this project.

Heschel West has stated from the beginning that we want to build a project that is an asset to the entire community. And we are wiling to work collaborative with our neighbors to make it an even better project. Hopefully, our neighbors in Old Agoura will rededicate themselves to bringing our communities together for the future of the entire community. Brian Greenberg Agoura Hills