AGOURA HILLS : Conservancy Funds Help Riding Center

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy gave the city of Agoura Hills $600,000 to help it acquire and build a $1.25-million park and equestrian center, a conservancy spokeswoman said.

Only a portion of the project will be funded with the grant, but city officials said they are optimistic about future money coming from the general fund.

Besides funding, the project is dependent upon the city approving a trade of the 2.72-acre Agoura Park for a nearby 10.1-acre undeveloped parcel of land known as the Stroud property, where the Lower Cheeseboro Canyon Equestrian Center will be built, said Rorie Skei, conservancy project manager.

The Cheeseboro Development Group, which plans to sell the Stroud property to the city for a $125,000 price differential after it buys the property from Chuck Stroud, wants to build 62 1,100- to 1,300-square-foot condominiums on the Agoura Park property, said Dave Carmany, Agoura Hills City Manager.

The sale is in escrow now, but the deal will not go through unless the Cheeseboro Development Group gets city approval to build on the property, Carmany said.

If the Lower Cheeseboro Canyon Equestrian Center is built one block away from the 35-year-old park, it will have baseball fields, playgrounds, basketball courts, recreation and craft buildings and an equestrian center, said Joe Donofrio, Agoura Hills director of parks and recreation.

The plan has been approved by the city planning department and the architectural review board but still needs the approval of the city Planning Commission and the City Council, Donofrio said.