Calabasas Project : Builder Offers to Preserve Scenic Hills

A development plan that would preserve motorists’ view of the most scenic stretch of open space between Los Angeles and Ventura has been filed by an Agoura Hills-based builder.

Morrison Entities on Monday asked Los Angeles County for permission to put 410 homes on an 823-acre parcel on the north side of the Ventura Freeway at the Calabasas Grade, company officials said.

The company agreed, however, to maintain a quarter-mile buffer zone between the freeway and the hilly construction site so that nothing is built within sight of freeway travelers, said John Hurford, the company’s project manager.

The development proposal apparently ends a 10-year fight by homeowners and environmentalists to preserve the rolling hills, which are covered with bright purple flowers in the spring.

The freeway runs alongside the property for about one mile.

Residents had bitterly opposed a 755-home subdivision approved in 1982 for the site. That project, proposed by Canada-based Doan Corp., called for major grading and construction of low- to moderate-income condominiums close to the freeway.

But the project stalled and the Calabasas property passed to Doan’s bank, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Toronto.

The bank agreed two weeks ago to sell the property to Morrison Entities, Hurford said, with escrow to close early next year. Hurford declined to disclose the purchase price.

Similar to Morrison Ranch Homes

Homes in the development, Hurford said, will resemble those in a 1,200-home tract being completed by the company in Agoura Hills. That development, called Morrison Ranch, includes five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot homes costing $450,000.

Community leaders Tuesday predicted that the new project will win a rare endorsement from Calabasas residents who have vigorously opposed other housing proposed for their area.

They were pleased by the developer’s promise to leave about half the project site as open space and to keep construction about 1,000 feet away from existing houses, they said.

“People seem very much in favor of the development, very positive about it,” said Jeff Taub, a representative of the 400-home Malibu Canyon Park subdivision at the western edge of the proposed tract.

Homeowner Doris Violette said hundreds of homeowners protested in 1979 when the Doan development plans were first unveiled during a raucous public meeting at a local school. Now, she said, “there are people here who are ready to go downtown right now to testify on behalf of this project.”

Hurford said construction could begin in mid-1988 and will take about four years.