Calabasas Caught in Pumpkin Festival Dispute : Council: Soka University, which is seeking a campus expansion, has offered its grounds for the site. Not all are willing to accept.

Pumpkins are no small matter in the city of Calabasas, which is named after the bright orange gourd.

So it is only appropriate that the first controversy to face the government of the new city stems from its own namesake fruit. Wednesday night, City Council members were asked their position in a dispute over the 1992 Calabasas Pumpkin Festival, which is in the planning stages.

Soka University, which occupies the grassy meadow and white buildings that were once home to Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s Church Universal and Triumphant, has offered to let the festival take place on its park-like grounds--for free.

Members of the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, who are organizing the event, are inclined to accept.

“Soka is extending its hand in partnership. They have offered us free use of the site. It’s a wonderful offer,” said Alan Ungar, a financial planner who heads the chamber’s pumpkin festival committee. “It’s absolutely beautiful. Absolutely perfect.”

Other members of the community aren’t so sure.

Soka wants to expand its campus, which has embroiled it in a dispute with state and federal agencies that want the land for a park headquarters. Some residents fear that holding the festival on the disputed land could give the appearance that the city supports the expansion, which is strongly opposed by many.

Jeff Kurtz, who wants the land to become a park, appealed to City Council members Wednesday to take a stand against the chamber’s plan. The council has no direct authority over the chamber or the festival, but its support or opposition could affect the festival’s future.

Kurtz said the council’s endorsement of the chamber’s plan would send “mixed signals to the public, indicating that possibly this City Council is not that concerned with the expansion on the property.”

“If the City Council supports, attends and advertises an event at that site, what are Ed Edelman and Don Wallace going to think when it comes time for them to make a decision about the expansion?” Kurtz said. Edelman, the county supervisor who represents the area, will review the school’s building plans when they come before the board. Wallace is his field deputy.

Ungar said he was not concerned about appearing to endorse the expansion because in fact he does not object to it. “We felt we could support what Soka is planning there,” he said. “They are being very responsible.”

The council agreed to consider the issue at its next meeting.