Group Gives Up Lake Lindero Plan

A proposal to convert private Lake Lindero into a public fishing hole is dead in the water, homeowners association representatives said Tuesday.

Lake Lindero Homeowners Assn. President Terry Miller said early returns of a survey sent to the 459 association members last month showed support for the plan, but not enough for the board to continue.

“It’s not the overwhelming majority we were looking for,” Miller said.

He said the vote was coming in at about 2 to 1 in favor of continuing talks with the developer, Pan Pacific of Santa Barbara. The board had hoped to see a favorable vote nearer 90%.

Miller said another factor in the decision was a petition being circulated by lakeside homeowners opposed to the project. The opponents planned to submit their petition to the city of Agoura Hills if Pan Pacific requested a conditional-use permit.

“I’m sensitive to the homeowners’ needs,” Miller said. “To pursue an endeavor and have that many people affected by it that are against it, it would not be a win-win situation, which was our intent.”

Opponents of the plan said they were pleased and encouraged by the decision.

“All I hope now is that we can again have the trust we had with our homeowners association [last year] and move on,” said Thom Peachee, a lakeside resident and one of the leaders of the opposition. “We’d like to come up with a reasonable maintenance program for the lake. All we want is to see a nice, clean atmosphere.”

The board had requested that the surveys be returned by mid-September. Fewer than half of those sent a letter have responded so far. But the responses have convinced the developer and board members that it wasn’t worth moving forward.

“I can’t see how the numbers are going to change [as more surveys are returned],” Miller said. “There’s not going to be an outpouring now of people supporting this.”

He said the board would now look at other options to clean up and improve the lake.