Old Agoura resident settles into her job as planning commissioner
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Cyrena Nouzille

Old Agoura resident Cyrena Nouzille had a big job to fill when Agoura Hills Planning Commissioner Phil Ramuno stepped down from his post after 10 years on the job.

The planning commission consists of five volunteer members who live in Agoura Hills. The panel acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council on land-use matters and recommends ways to guide the city's physical growth through the implementation of its General Plan.

Councilmember Bill Koehler appointed Nouzille to replace Ramuno. She joins commissioners John O'Meara, Stephen Rishoff, Illece Buckley Weber and Curtis Zacuto.

"I appointed Cyrena because as a longtime Agoura Hills resident she has always been an active advocate of balancing the need for community growth yet maintaining a watchful eye on the important environmental issues such as open space," Koehler said. "As a member of our city's General Plan Update Committee, she has identified the historical advantage of maintaining the uniqueness of our various neighborhoods and at the same time has the ability to see the big picture as to how we will integrate new development into our community and still maintain the Agoura lifestyle we have all come to appreciate."

Nouzille has lived in Agoura since 1999. During that time she has served on the Old Agoura Homeowners Association planning and zoning committee. She said she became familiar with land issues when her work with the HOA overlapped with the city's work on horse trails.

Land use issues in Agoura Hills provide an abundance of work for commissioners, Nouzille said.

"The challenge is trying to balance the preservation of neighborhoods with the individual property rights," she said. "That's a tough one."

In Old Agoura, battles continue between new homeowners who want to build homes of various styles and sizes and longtime residents who want to maintain a semirural, equestrian atmosphere.

The planning commission has been grappling with the idea of a "neighborhood compatibility" law that would apply to all homes in Agoura Hills, including Old Agoura. If passed, the law would provide homeowners with design guidelines when they apply to the city for a permit to build a house or remodel an existing one.

Nouzille likes the idea of maintaining the "small-town feel" according to existing General Plan guidelines. "So far, (the city) has done a good job," she said. But the differences between people she calls "open space zealots" and those who flail against any building guidelines whatsoever make the volunteer job of planning commissioner interesting.

"It's always a balancing act," Nouzille said. "I would like to see (the city) retain its rural heart. It makes Agoura Hills special."

Agoura Village

The next big assignment for planning commissioners will be to review and present to the public the final Agoura Village environmental impact report.

Agoura Village is a pedestrianfriendly, mixeduse development planned for Agoura Road that will combine retail stores and restaurants with businesses, multi-family housing and other elements of a town center.

Nouzille said she and other commissioners have not seen any individual applications for the development, but that when the EIR comes up for reratification in October the panel will only comment on the new portions of the report that were required by the court after a local citizen sued the city to curtail the project.

'Horse freak' and artist

Nouzille, a freelance graphic designer who earned a degree in biology, previously worked at the Natural History Museum designing exhibits. She said she took casts of fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits for display, created dioramas that brought the geologic ages to life and worked on traveling exhibits, sometimes major installations. She also worked in the children's discover center at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Besides graphic design, Nouzille is an interior and furniture designer.

Old Agoura suits Nouzille and her family just fine. "I'm a horse freak," she said.

She named her Arabian horse Bucephalus after Alexander the Great's legendary stallion that died of battle wounds in 326 B.C. The family owns another Arabian named Shadow. She said the horse is now white but was probably named at birth when its color was pitch black.

Nouzille, 44, is married and has two daughters, Chloe, 13, and Amelia, 6.