Local News in Brief : Cityhood Proposal Denied
The Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission rejected a proposal Thursday to incorporate a city of Calabasas.
The 5-2 vote of the commission prevents the matter from going to the Board of Supervisors and a public hearing.
Unless 50% or more of the registered voters in the area had objected in writing, the board would have been required to place it on the ballot.
After first voting to reduce the size of the proposed city from 10 to 6.6 square miles, the commission voted again to reject the entire incorporation plan. In the first instance, opponents charged that the commission was responding to the desires of a developer who wanted certain properties excluded from the incorporated area.
The vote to deny cityhood to any part of the area came after some commissioners questioned whether a city of Calabasas would be financially viable.
However, Edward Dilkes, an attorney representing proponents of the plan, charged that that vote, too, came as a result of opposition from “powerful developers.” Dilkes said backers of the Calabasas proposal were “shellshocked” at the vote and will decide later whether to make another bid for cityhood.
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