Agoura Plan for Houses Criticized : Vote Delayed on Renaissance Site

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors delayed voting Thursday on a proposal to develop the 320-acre Renaissance Pleasure Faire site in Agoura after opponents said the project would damage the environment.

The proposed 159-home development would “violate the sanctity of our rural existence,” Agoura environmentalist Serena Friedman said.

Developer Brian Heller countered that the land is hardly pristine since it is used yearly for the fair. He said homeowners living closest to the site support his project.

The supervisors postponed a decision until Jan. 12, saying they need time to evaluate the many environmental and planning issues raised by both sides.

Heller is seeking approval for 159 homes on the property, which he jointly owns with Arthur Whizin. Heller is seeking an amendment to the county plan, which allows only 103 houses there. The land is on Cornell Road north of Mulholland Drive.

Heller maintained that the limit is based on an outdated formula for use of the land. A more accurate formula would allow as many as 170 houses there, he said.

Heller also attacked the fair, an annual cultural event that has rented the Whizin property for 6 weekends a year since 1965.

“They’ve got thousands of cars parked there, and it is not a pristine park site,” Heller said.

The fair is close to securing an interim site for next year in Ventura County, said fair spokesman Kevin Patterson, who declined to be more specific.

Friedman, who also lives near the property, said Heller’s project would drastically alter the appearance of the oak-studded meadow. She noted that it calls for grading and removal of 122 oaks.

During rainstorms, there would be runoff from the project across 700 feet of neighboring National Park Service land, said David M. Brown, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation. And Brown said that it would be difficult for residents of the development to escape in case of a disastrous brush fire.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, and board Chairman Pete Schabarum indicated that they are not considering efforts of state and federal parks agencies to buy the land.

Antonovich asked county fire and planning officials to review the environmental and fire issues and Heller’s interpretation of the county plan. But he did not mention as among his concerns the desire of the National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to buy the land for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Earlier in the hearing, an aide to Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) read a statement from the congressman saying Heller’s request should not be approved.

Schabarum asked Beilenson aide Joan Shaffran pointedly: “Did the congressman indicate how long we should inversely condemn this land until the funds are available?”

State law bars public agencies from imposing regulations that deprive an owner of using his land.

Shaffran responded that funds are available now but that Heller has been an unwilling seller.