Calabasas OKs Micor Project for 2nd Time

At a meeting punctuated by personal attacks and innuendo, the Calabasas City Council late Wednesday night approved for the second time plans to build a luxury housing project in a secluded canyon east of Las Virgenes Road.

Micor Ventures’ proposal to build 250 homes on 938 acres was the council’s first major land-use decision, but it has also evolved into one of its most troublesome. And no one expects Wednesday’s approval to be the final word.

“It’s a huge headache,” Councilwoman Lesley Devine said after an emotional hearing during which developer Michael Rosenfeld characterized the tactics of his critics as “sick and disturbing.”

Approved initially in September, the project was overturned by a judge three months later on procedural grounds. Following Wednesday’s re-approval, opponents vowed to pursue legal means to stop the project again.

“We have a whole range of opportunities open to us,” said Frank Angel, attorney for the environmental group Save Open Space, which wants no more than 81 homes to be built on the property.

Save Open Space and state parks officials have led the fight against Micor’s plans. Ironically, two other parks agencies--the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the National Park Service--endorse Micor’s project because it will set aside more than 700 acres as public parkland.

On Wednesday, Save Open Space leaders repeated longstanding allegations that the City Council and Micor President Rosenfeld hammered out the development deal behind closed doors.

“Somehow, I feel we have been shadowboxing,” Save Open Space board member Siegfried Othmer said, complaining that council members have not listened to environmental concerns about the project, such as the destruction of a wildlife corridor.

To support their assertions, opponents of the project circulated a 1990 resolution of the Calabasas Cityhood Committee endorsing Micor’s development plans. All of the council members belonged to the cityhood committee before Calabasas incorporated in 1991.

“This is totally hypocritical,” Save Open Space board member Mary Weisbrock said. “The public was not even involved in the process. They made this decision without an environmental impact report and with the public kept out of the process.”

But council members said the 1990 resolution in no way committed them to vote in favor of the project. They said it was no different than a homeowner association taking a position on a particular project, which is common.

“We had no authority,” said Mayor Bob Hill, who signed the 1990 resolution. “And there was no guarantee that the people who were in that group would be elected to the City Council. We never guaranteed anything.”

But Othmer raised other concerns, including an allegation that three council members met secretly with Rosenfeld during a break in Wednesday’s meeting. Such an encounter could be considered a violation of public meeting laws, and Othmer demanded minutes of the conversation.

Rosenfeld angrily responded that council members had asked him about the condition of his hospitalized infant son, who was born several weeks premature.

“If someone has a valid point, they don’t need to cloak it in all this horrific stuff,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s a sick and disturbing exhibition of their abuse of their privilege of participation in the process. I think we should see how horrible these people really are under the light of day.”

Wednesday’s confrontation was only the latest between Rosenfeld, the city and environmentalists. Although the project is relatively small, it has been bogged down in city and court hearings since the middle of last year.

When the project was initially proposed, Micor’s property was outside the city limits, under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Although the property was bordered on three sides by Calabasas, it was excluded from incorporation on a technicality.

Once the city was up and running, officials annexed the property and Rosenfeld agreed to apply for permits through Calabasas. By annexing the property, the city gained control of Las Virgenes Road.

Control of the road is considered crucial in the effort to block the expansion plans of Soka University, a Japanese language school that wants to expand its campus at the corner of Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway. Council members oppose the school’s expansion.

Save Open Space sued after the City Council approved Micor’s project. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge threw out most of the group’s claims. However, he ruled that because the city had not adopted its own General Plan, it was bound by the county’s, which would not have allowed the project.

In February, City Council members made technical changes to their land-use rules to allow the project, and last week they appealed the judge’s ruling.