Politics pack a big punch in Calabasas

City Council race the talk of the town



FIRE AWAY—Candidates Fred Gaines (left), Steve Roseman and Alicia Weintraub answer questions at the League of Women Voters debate.

FIRE AWAY—Candidates Fred Gaines (left), Steve Roseman and Alicia Weintraub answer questions at the League of Women Voters debate.

The Nov. 3 vote is approaching and in the City of Calabasas, election fever is running high. Whether it’s two candidates or 20, the city never shies away from a good old-fashioned ballot-box brawl.

With three seemingly likeminded candidates running for two seats, the battle lines in the 2015 City Council race are still being drawn, but it’s clear that the decades-old question of whether or not the city is being overdeveloped has surfaced once again. Answers are in demand.

The candidates were asked to give specifics, not generalities, when answering questions at an Oct. 6 forum hosted by the Saratoga Hills Homeowners Association. Yet none of the three said how they would vote on a pair of controversial hotel developments pending for Las Virgenes Road.

“I don’t want to give definitive answers. . . .” said Steve Roseman, an attorney and a newcomer to local politics. “I don’t want to prejudge any project. People do have certain land-use rights.”

Funding priorities, public safety, and youth and senior programs are also top issues in Calabasas, but the urbanization of the community dominated the conversation not only at the Saratoga Hills debate but at two other forums hosted by the city and the League of Women Voters of California and by the Greater Mulwood HOA.

“Many people are worried that excessive development will change the character of the community,” said Roseman, who promises to protect the Santa Monica Mountains within the city and to scrutinize all new developments.

Alicia Weintraub, vice chair of the city’s planning commission, said she, too, is committed to maintaining the character of the community.

“Everyone on the City Council is going to scrutinize projects. . . . When I look at a project, I will look at the design, traffic, open space and the feedback from neighbors,” she said.

Throughout the discussion, Roseman underscored the importance of adhering to the city’s General Plan.

But “the General Plan is not the Holy Grail,” said incumbent Fred Gaines. “It wasn’t handed to Moses as he entered the Promised Land. There are things in it that you will like and things that you won’t like.”

And just because the developer asked for an exemption to build his four-story hotel on Las Virgenes Road doesn’t mean the city will grant it, said Weintraub, who voted against a proposed policy change that would have allowed more four-story buildings in Calabasas.

Many voters who supported slow-growth candidate Lucy Martin, the current mayor, in the 2011 election appear to be backing Roseman in the hopes that he will reduce the influence of developers at city hall.

Martin and Councilmember Mary Sue Maurer endorse Roseman, who chairs the city’s historical preservation commission. He said that if he’s elected he would advocate for managed growth.

“We want to look at new development to supplement the needs of the community, not dominate it,” said the attorney, who represents homeowners associations and senior living complexes.

Gaines, a land-use attorney who performs pro bono work for the Mountains Restoration Trust, and Weintraub, a public policy consultant who ran in the 2011 election but lost, are supported by Councilmembers David Shapiro and James Bozajian.

With half a dozen vacant commercial parcels left in Calabasas, Gaines said, the next council will have to make hard choices and sacrifices to ensure the city has enough sales and property taxes to maintain a growing demand for programs and services.

Without the additional $2 million per year in tax revenue that the Las Virgenes Road hotels and a proposed new car dealership on Calabasas Road will bring, the city will not be able to sustain the many programs that its residents desire, Gaines said.

Weintraub said public safety, open space, education and senior services should be the city’s funding priorities. But the competition for city funds is fierce.

“It comes down to balance between business needs and residential needs,” Weintraub said.

Both Gaines and Weintraub are known in the community for their involvement with city and school matters.

They disputed claims that they would allow growth to go unchecked on account of their professional work dealing with developers.

All three candidates said the four-story, Avanti mixed-use development with 72 residential units and retail space on Park Sorrento is too dense.

Weintraub was on the planning commission in 2013 that gave fi- nal approval to the project on Park Sorrento where the Calabasas Inn used to be. She said the project’s four-story height had been OK’d before she joined the commission.

All candidates said they would support city funding for education and senior programs, and promote commerce.


DEBATE—From left, Roseman, Gaines and Weintraub with moderator Peter Huemann of Saratoga Hills.

DEBATE—From left, Roseman, Gaines and Weintraub with moderator Peter Huemann of Saratoga Hills.

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