Micor Editorial Didn’t Consider All Factors

* Your editorial “Calabasas Needs to Follow the Blueprint” (April 17), about the Micor development, didn’t count all the factors that affected the “blueprint” for our city.

The Micor project was excluded by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission from the original Calabasas boundaries and was destined for county control and typical treatment within the land-use plan (variously calculated at between 600-plus dwellings and 81 units, depending on who was figuring).

This is the county that entertained the adjacent Baldwin Co. project of 2,200 units, 1.6 million feet of commercial space and a $66-million road through the Palo Comado Significant Ecological Area. They ultimately created a development agreement that allowed nearly six times the county General Plan density. Typical county approvals in Calabasas were six to 10 times General Plan allowances.

We also faced another incorporation denial, as in 1988, if the word “moratorium” was even hinted. Plus, history has shown that a moratorium until the adoption of a new general plan results in lawsuits from impacted property owners and the cost of millions in defense. Calabasas has been creative in averting showdowns by sidestepping a moratorium, by enacting significant environmental mitigation in the annexation of Micor (including 630 acres of wildlife habitat), and by the hard work of Calabasas city staff, the council and our citizen volunteers. Calabasas didn’t sue to contradict the city. And, contrary to The Times’ editorial, “cost to the taxpayers” is mischaracterized, because litigation costs over this development are to be reimbursed by the developer.

We hope The Times is aware that the California Legislature created legislation that allows a newly incorporated city to process applications for development in accordance with its “anticipated” general plan in order to obtain local control. The issue of local control is of course one of the primary reasons for becoming a city. In this most recent case cited by The Times, the judge did not rule on the merits of the Micor project but rather disagreed with the legislation adopted by the California Legislature and signed into law by the governor.

This decision was so unanticipated that the author of the law, Assemblywoman Dominic L. Cortese, submitted a letter to the California Supreme Court requesting that it hear the appeal of this case because the lower court had “misconstrued” the applicable state statutes. Even Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne, quoted in your editorial, prefaced her ruling with the statement that if she would have been the original judge hearing this matter, she would probably not have ruled in the same manner.

Calabasas has the trust of its citizens as it continues to strive for the goals set in the original incorporation process, to maintain local control and to diligently build its general plan. Portions of the draft general plan have already been recognized as being in the forefront of sensitivity to the environment, preservation of open space and respect for all living things.

KARYN FOLEY

Calabasas

Foley is the mayor of Calabasas .