CALABASAS : 60-Acre Annexation Request to Be Heard

A request by the city of Calabasas to annex about 60 acres--which contain the Motion Picture and Television Fund home, the Leonis Adobe and half of a condominium complex--has been scheduled for a hearing before a committee of the Los Angeles City Council.

The land--within the city of Los Angeles--is bounded to the east by Mulholland Drive and to the north by the Ventura Freeway. Calabasas officials argue that Mulholland and the freeway are logical boundaries for their 2-year-old city.

“There is a lot of confusion over where Calabasas ends and where Los Angeles begins,” Calabasas Councilwoman Lesley Devine said. “It’s clearly a public safety issue when it comes to the response of the police or the fire department because there are different jurisdictions.”

The current boundary also places the south side of an area known to locals as Old Calabasas within the city of Los Angeles.

“It’s crazy the way it’s divided,” Devine said. “We can’t get anything done.”

The Los Angeles Planning Commission in November split over the request, and made no recommendation to the City Council on the issue.

A report by the Los Angeles city administrative officer found the detachment would cost Los Angeles $150,000 a year in lost property taxes and utility fees.

The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee is scheduled to hear public testimony at 1 p.m. Jan. 25.

If the council approves the detachment, the proposal would be forwarded to the Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees boundary changes.