Calabasas : Session Will Address Request to Add Homes

A developer’s proposal to add 110 homes to a planned 550-home development in Calabasas will be discussed Wednesday at a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission.

The subdivision, called Calabasas Oaks, is at the end of Parkway Calabasas. The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 26135 Mureau Road.

Jim Baldwin of Baldwin Co.-Village Properties asked to amend the development agreement to include the additional homes after his plans fell through to build 124 homes as part of the Calabasas Promenade, a proposed shopping center on Las Virgenes Road. He scrapped those plans after Pam Azar, a partner in the project, failed to gain access to a key piece of land.

The Calabasas Park Homeowners’ Assn., which represents homeowners in the Parkway Calabasas area, opposes Baldwin’s bid to add 110 homes, saying they would bring too much noise and traffic. Earlier this year, Baldwin offered the association $500,000 to mitigate the impact of the additional homes, but the organization declined. The association says it would be willing to compromise and accept 25 additional homes.

Baldwin originally wanted to build 1,487 homes at the site, before Calabasas incorporated in 1991. But the company ran into fierce opposition from the association and sued to block the city from incorporating. Baldwin later agreed to drop the case as long as the association agreed not to oppose the construction of 550 homes.

As part of the development agreement, Baldwin donated 624 acres of land surrounding the site to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and agreed to pay the city of Calabasas $1.5 million to re-establish native plants on the land.