Library Quest Rouses Ire of Agoura Hills Residents

It’s not uncommon to see raised hackles when officials try to put a jail, dump or low-income housing project in a neighborhood.

But Agoura Hills has put a surprising new twist on the not-in-my-back-yard syndrome: Some residents of this upper-income city of well-educated professionals are fighting to keep a library out of their neighborhood.

A dispute over where to build a $4-million, 25,000-square-foot library has split the community, sparking a flurry of petitions and letters to the editor and causing disagreement between the mayor and City Council.

Tensions peaked when a group of angry homeowners hung in effigy a councilwoman who had suggested locating the facility in a city-owned field the homeowners want made into a park.

That incident has left the councilwoman shaken and angry at the mayor, who she says ignited the controversy by leaking a memo she had written suggesting that the field be considered as a library site. She said the memo was intended as a private communication to council members.

Neighbors’ Objections

Residents who oppose having the library in their neighborhood fear that it will create traffic problems, attract vandalism-prone youths and take up precious park space.

The effigy incident occurred after Mayor Pro Tem Darlene McBane wrote a memo to her fellow council members suggesting that the library be built in the 4.3-acre field at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Forest Cove Lane. The city has deemed the field a future park site.

A few days later, on Feb. 13, McBane took about a dozen members of a citizens group called Friends of the Library to see the site and was startled to see an inflatable plastic skeleton with her name on it strung atop a pole surrounded by about 30 people who live near the park.

“My stomach turned over when I stepped out of the car and saw it,” McBane said of the skeleton. “It was quite an experience. I hope it never happens again.”

McBane said the crowd subjected her to heckling and “verbal abuse” when she tried to explain her reasons for suggesting the field as a library site.

Richard Sundberg, who lives near the field, said he organized the effigy demonstration to dramatize residents’ opposition to having the library “inflicted” on what city officials long have said would be made into a park.

“It was a harmless thing. I certainly didn’t mean her any harm at all,” Sundberg said.

Sundberg said he hastily called his neighbors together after receiving a call from Mayor Jack Koenig, who told him about McBane’s memo suggesting the park site.

Koenig denied calling Sundberg and claimed McBane herself ignited the controversy by telling a different group of homeowners, the Lake Lindero Homeowners Assn., that she would suggest the disputed site.

McBane denied the mayor’s version of events and said she suggested the field after the Lake Lindero group asked her to consider that as a library site.

Upset With Koenig

McBane added that she is upset with Koenig for sharing what she contends was a confidential memo to council members.

“I’m not happy with him,” McBane said of Koenig. “My memo was addressed to the council. That’s where it should stay.”

Other council members agree. “I was upset about it. That wasn’t right,” said Councilwoman Vicky Leary. “I don’t really quite understand why he did it.”

City officials later determined that it would be illegal to build the library on the field anyway because Los Angeles County deeded the property to the city with the stipulation that it be used as a park. Since the library and its parking lot would take up the entire site, it would be illegal to build it there, city officials say.

The controversy over the site has delayed indefinitely plans to build a library to replace the small, overcrowded facility on Roadside Drive. The city, which was poised early this year to build the library at Chumash Park--a 12.5-acre site near Agoura High School--has gone back to the drawing board. Officials have no idea when the matter will be settled.

Bond Sale Planned

Earlier this year, it seemed a fait accompli that the library would be built at Chumash Park near Agoura High School. The city was poised to go forward with the sale of bonds to fund the facilities. The City Council, at a special meeting in January, unanimously “conceptually” approved Chumash Park as the library site.

Some residents living near the park voiced concern about traffic on the two-lane streets leading to the park and expressed chagrin that the facility would use up park space.

“It’s about the only green spot left in town,” said Paul Harwood, 54, who lives across the street from Chumash Park. “I think we definitely need a library. But I’m very much against them building anything there. Why destroy this site?”

His neighbor, Viki Maxwell, 17, agreed. “The traffic would be ridiculous. There’s too much traffic as it is,” she said.

The tide of public opinion against the proposal prompted the council to postpone selling the bonds while officials seek community input and consider other sites.

Most Want Library

“The majority of people want a library. They just don’t want it in their back yard,” McBane said. Still others want a community center built instead, she added.

The effigy incident brought criticism from many Agoura Hills residents.

“What is going on in our little city when Ms. McBane’s mere proposal to fellow council members brings scorn and vilification?” Agoura Hills resident George Slotnick asked in a letter to several local newspapers. “No citizen of our community deserves this indignation.”

“What is next . . . a cross burning . . . or maybe an inquisition?” asked another letter writer, Glen Peterson of Agoura.

The city now is considering putting the library on one of several city parks, leasing space in an office building or purchasing a site. Council members say all the options have flaws.

Delay Criticized

Koenig, meanwhile, is chafing at the delay. He pushed for the city to go forward with the sale of bonds to fund the facilities, saying interest rates might rise while the debates stretches on.

At a council meeting last week, Koenig was the lone voice advocating that the council proceed with plans to build the library at Chumash Park. The rest of the council voted to consider the matter further, and it is not known when a decision will be made.

Koenig said he favors the Chumash Park site and added that 2,000 residents recently signed a petition saying they want the library there.

He said the rest of the council “has been wishy-washy and flip-flopping on the issue.”

At the special meeting in January, McBane herself seconded the motion that Chumash Park be the library site, he said. It is also the site that county officials prefer, he added.

‘Delay Divisive’

“We’re back to Page 1,” Koenig said. “The delay has been divisive and hasn’t accomplished anything. When we stood firm, the community stood behind us. We provide the leadership. When we seem to waffle, the community seems to waffle.

“It seems they’re afraid of the controversy,” he said of his fellow council members.

But Leary and McBane said the council was rushed into choosing the Chumash site in part because of an initiative qualified for the ballot last year by then-Councilman Ernest Dynda that would earmark future hotel tax revenues to build a library, community center and baseball fields. Council members felt that the plan was flawed and rushed to come up with an alternative, she said. Voters rejected Dynda’s measure in November.

The city, which plans to finance the library through a combination of federal revenue-sharing funds and bonds, already has had to scale down plans because financial advisers overestimated the money that could be raised by bonds.

Initially, the city had planned to build a 10,500-square-foot community center and gymnasium at Chumash Park as well as the library, at a total cost of $5.9 million, with an extra $2 million for a reserve fund, officials said.

The city voted in June to raise $7.9 million for the community center and library through certificates of participation, public bond issues secured by the city’s general fund.

But the rug was pulled from under the plan when Shearson Lehman Brothers, the company chosen by the city to issue the certificates, lowered estimates of the money that would be raised to $3.8 million from $6.5 million, city officials said.