Winner Says Project’s Foes Helped Elect Him : Westlake Village: The City Council may act on Westlake North before two new members take office.

The top vote-getter in Tuesday’s Westlake Village City Council election said Wednesday that his victory partly reflected opposition to a controversial development project called Westlake North.

The winner, ex-city manager James E. Emmons, said voters “do not want to see the plan . . . approved.”

Voters elected Emmons, who was city manager from 1982 to 1988; incumbent Councilwoman Bonnie Klove, and homeowner association president Douglas R. Yarrow.

They overwhelmingly defeated incumbent Councilman Irwin A. Shane.

Emmons led the contest with 1,414 votes, or 30%. Yarrow had 1,212 votes, 25.7%, and Klove 849 votes, or 18%.

Shane finished fifth with 324 votes, or 6.9%. Ahead of him was vocational teacher Sybil Nisenholz with 649 votes, or 13.8%. Joanne Robinson, an office manager for the California Highway Patrol, received 264 votes, or 5.6%.

Shane agreed that voter anxiety over Westlake North played a major part in his defeat. The proposal is for 1.5 million square feet of office space and 250 apartments or condominiums.

The election returns, Emmons said, indicate that “the citizens of Westlake do not want to see the plan that we currently know about approved. Myself and Doug Yarrow were probably the two strongest in our opposition to that plan of the six candidates.”

The council has scheduled decision hearings on the project for Nov. 15 and 16. But Emmons and Yarrow do not take office until Dec. 6. With Shane’s defeat and Mayor Franklin D. Pelletier’s decision not to seek reelection, the council now has two lame-duck members.

“This matter is going to be dealt with by the council next week, and we will decide what we are going to do or not going to do or whether to continue it,” Pelletier said.

A ballot initiative to raise the city’s constitutional spending limit passed overwhelmingly, with 89.5% voter support. About 37% of the city’s 4,805 registered voters cast ballots, City Manager Larry W. Bagley said.

Shane’s defeat was not a major surprise to some Westlake Village political observers. Klove said many were surprised that Shane, 75, decided to seek reelection in the first place, since he narrowly avoided losing in 1985.

“Shane had lost his effectiveness, and generally people wanted a more vibrant council,” said Anthony Plaia, who lost to Shane by nine votes in 1985.

At a campaign forum last month, Shane said that one reason the council should make a quick decision on Westlake North is that “the developers are anxious to get started.”

Pelletier questioned whether Emmons could be objective about Westlake North because his property management company manages a 90,000-square-foot shopping center at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Lindero Canyon Road, near the project site.

If the Westlake North decision is postponed, Emmons “is going to have to deal with that situation, which may or may not be a conflict of interest,” Pelletier said.

Emmons said his company has no ownership interest in the shopping center and merely manages the property. But he said he expects to ask the city attorney for an opinion if any potential conflict arises once he is on the council.