Agoura Hills Proposes Trading Park to Developer

Agoura Hills officials disclosed Friday a plan to swap a finished park for a larger, undeveloped piece of land, where new park facilities would be built with money the city does not yet have.

Under the proposal, about 60 condominiums would be built on the 2.7 acres of what is now Agoura Park. In a trade with the condominium developer, the city would acquire a nearby 10-acre parcel for a future park.

The Agoura Hills City Council is scheduled to discuss the proposal at its regular meeting Wednesday night.

Agoura Park is on the west side of Chesebro Road south of Driver Avenue.

The land for the proposed new park, known locally as the Stroud property, is slightly to the north, at the northwest corner of Chesebro Road and Driver Avenue.

The city’s plan calls for building about $1.1 million worth of facilities on the 10 acres, including a recreation building, a baseball field and an equestrian staging area.

Although smaller, the existing Agoura Park has a ball field, playground, basketball court, recreation building and a craft building.

But city officials said a plan to pay for the future park improvements has not been developed. Councilwoman Fran Pavley said the city might ask the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state parks agency, for substantial aid.

Pavley said the new park, which is at the end of the Zuma Ridge Trail, would have an equestrian emphasis.

Joseph T. Edmiston, the conservancy’s executive director, said he did not know the details of the Agoura Hills proposal.

But he said the agency would be unlikely to fund urban park amenities such as baseball fields.

Edmiston also noted that the conservancy is considering locating another equestrian staging area nearby and would not pay for more than one in the same vicinity.

Pavley and Councilwoman Darlene McBane said the parkland swap proposal has merit because it would place the Stroud property in the hands of the city, preserving it from development.

The land is zoned for about 16 homes, and its owner, Charles Stroud, had plans to sell to a developer, they said.

Chesebro Development Group has an option to buy the Stroud property and build single-family houses on it.

In the swap, Chesebro would receive Agoura Park, on which the company wants to build condominiums for which it needs city approval, City Manager David N. Carmany said.

A condominium development on Agoura Park would be consistent with the land next to it, he said.

If the city agrees to the land swap but later refuses to permit construction of the condominiums, the entire swap would be voided and Chesebro would be free to build houses on the Stroud property, Carmany said.

Pavley estimated that completing a park on the Stroud property could take as long as three years.

In the meantime, programs at Agoura Park such as youth baseball and a “tiny tot” preschool would be displaced, said Joe Donofrio, city parks director.

Parks officials would try to find alternate facilities to house those programs, he said.