Calabasas denied Spirent annexation

Agoura Hills will try to claim the contested 43-acre site



IDENTITY CRISIS—Spirent Communications on Agoura Road wanted to be inside the City of Calabasas. For now, it will remain in county territory. Acorn file photo

IDENTITY CRISIS—Spirent Communications on Agoura Road wanted to be inside the City of Calabasas. For now, it will remain in county territory. Acorn file photo

A request by the City of Calabasas to annex a 43-acre parcel of land in Liberty Canyon from Los Angeles County was turned down last week, closing the door on the city’s hope for an additional $600,000 in yearly tax revenue.

The property, which lies at the intersection of Agoura Road and Liberty Canyon Road outside the city limits, contains numerous private homes as well as three commercial properties. Had the city’s application been successful, a portion of those businesses’ property taxes would have gone to Calabasas rather than the county. The tax revenue is substantial.

Agoura Hills also had designs on the site and a tussle between the two cities ensued. With Calabasas out of the picture, Agoura Hills hopes that its annexation request, filed in November, will be successful.

The Los Angeles County Local Area Formation Committee (LAFCO), which oversees municipal boundary changes, voted 7 to 1 at its Jan. 9 meeting to deny the Calabasas request to take ownership of the parcel.

Paul Novak, LAFCO’s executive officer, said two of the commercial property owners had written letters to the commission voicing their support of the Calabasas application. But Novak said commissioners may have been swayed by testimony from Agoura Hills city officials and Liberty Canyon residents.

“There was substantial testimony, and their contention was that this area really belongs in Agoura Hills, that it is adjacent to about 1,000 residents to the south, in Liberty Canyon,” Novak said. “(Speakers said) any impacts are felt more by those residents, as opposed to Calabasas, where there aren’t any residents (nearby). It’s kind of over the hill from Calabasas.”

Novak said that LAFCO’s denial of Calabasas doesn’t mean Agoura Hills will automatically take ownership.

“Several commissioners were very clear in saying, ‘we may very well be predisposed to not approving Agoura Hills’ application as well,’” Novak said. “I think the county’s legal counsel made a pretty strong presentation that they would like it to stay in the county.”

Calabasas filed paperwork to annex the property in early 2014. The effort was prompted by Spirent Communications, a U.K.-based telecommunications company that moved from a building within Calabasas city limits to its current home on the disputed parcel of land.

Gary Lysik, Calabasas city manager, said Spirent told both the city and the county it wanted to return to Calabasas and lie within that city’s boundaries.

“(Spirent) thought they were in Calabasas because their mailing address says Calabasas,” Lysik said. “A lot of time, effort and money have gone into this, not just by the city but by the property owners.”

The county presented a deal in 2015 in which the property would stay with the county but the more than half-million dollars in business and property taxes would be shared with Calabasas. City officials declined the deal and the city filed a lawsuit against the county to allow annexation. A court ordered the parties to arbitrate the matter.

Calabasas officials reached an agreement with the county last year wherein Spirent’s tax revenue would be divided between the two governments evenly, but that balance would shift in favor of Calabasas over a 10-year period until the city was the sole beneficiary. LAFCO approval would have finalized the agreement. It never came.

In the meantime, Agoura Hills filed its application last fall after community leaders and Liberty Canyon homeowners demanded the city take a stand on the issue. They were concerned that Calabasas might open the land up to development.

Most of the land is zoned open space, and not available to be developed.

Opposition to the Calabasas application was based mostly on geography—the parcel is on the eastern edge of the city, and far removed from any of its residential neighborhoods. Fran Pavley, a founder and former mayor of Agoura Hills, criticized the Calabasas move, saying the city was interested only in Spirent’s tax revenue.

The property will remain under the control of L.A .County until the Agoura Hills application comes before LAFCO, which is expected to happen sometime this year.