Planning Chief Limits Agoura Project Debate

The head of the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission said Wednesday that, when the panel votes on a controversial development proposal in the Santa Monica Mountains, it cannot be swayed by two main arguments of opponents of the project.

Opponents of the 320-acre Paramount Ranch project in Agoura, which includes some local residents, environmentalists and the National Park Service, contend that the development lacks a thorough environmental review and threatens the future of the annual Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

They also claim that it hampers the prospects of the largely rural area becoming part of a national parkland.

But, in agreeing to postpone a vote until March, Betty Fisher, president of the five-member commission, said Wednesday that the panel’s decision will not be influenced by either issue.

“We are restricted to the case as presented before us,” she said. “We really aren’t entitled legally to go into the areas of the national park and their acquisitions or as to the Renaissance Faire and what its future is.”

Developer Brian Heller and owner Art Whizin hope to build 160 homes, tennis courts and equestrian facilities on the land.

The irregularly shaped site is in the northwestern Santa Monica Mountains, just west of Cornell Road in Medea Creek Canyon next to Paramount Ranch, an old movie studio. Paramount Ranch was bought by the National Park Service in 1980 as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.