CALABASAS : Council to Keep Barrier on Street

Residents of the upper half of the housing tract wanted the street open. Those who live on the lower half wanted it closed. So, in the spirit of compromise, the Calabasas City Council blocked off half the street.

Six months later, the solution to the Parkmor Road dilemma seems to have worked, defusing a situation that pitted angry neighbors against each other.

At its regular meeting Wednesday night, the council extended indefinitely the closure of the southbound lane of Parkmor, where speeding cars had alarmed residents of the hillside street.

“The compromise seems to have worked, because the exchange of ideas has become very temperate,” City Manager Charles Cate said.

Last spring, more than 100 residents of the upper and lower halves of the tract hurled insults at each other during a special council hearing on the matter.

Residents of the lower half of Parkmor argued that increasing traffic made the street more dangerous, but the idea of a barrier angered residents of the upper half, who complained that other routes took longer to drive.

The council ordered a temporary barrier separating the north and south halves of Parkmor and, in December, approved its replacement with a landscaped blockade of the southbound entrance to the lower tract for a six-month trial period.

Only a handful of Parkmor residents showed up at the Wednesday night meeting.

The council asked city traffic planners to consider ways to keep motorists from driving around the barrier and other methods for slowing traffic on lower Parkmor, such as the possible installation of speed bumps.