Barrier at Adult School to Be Removed, Suit Averted

Effectively averting a threatened lawsuit, the City Council on Tuesday decided to remove a plastic barrier blocking the back entrance to the Conejo Valley Adult School.

In turn, trustees with the Conejo Valley Unified School District agreed to drop any legal action against the city for blocking access to the thriving campus.

School officials also have verbally agreed to close the back gate at the school to control the traffic problems that residents say have plagued the quiet equestrian-oriented Waverly Heights neighborhood for five years. The gate would be opened only during special events and emergencies.

The council’s 4-1 vote to remove the barrier came at the suggestion of Councilman Andy Fox after a previous proposal was shot down by the council. Some council members and school trustees bristled at that proposal--made by Councilwomen Linda Parks and Elois Zeanah --that would have required the school board to put in writing its vow to keep the back gate closed.

“This was the request [from residents] all along: Please close the gates,” Fox said. “I don’t want us to lose sight of this tonight. The gate will be closed.”

But, he said, closing the gate would not be the last step in solving community traffic woes. Moreover, if the back gate were to be opened too frequently, the city manager was authorized to erect a permanent barricade at the school without asking the council for permission, he added.

The issue of traffic at the adult school--originally built as an elementary school in the 1960s--has long been a source of concern for neighbors, who worry about traffic accidents and litter from students. It has also driven a wedge between city and school leaders.

The decision to remove the barrier could help warm those frosty relations, leaders agree.

“This is a victory for the community,” school board President Dolores Didio said Tuesday. “No one wants to see a lawsuit.”

But not everyone was appeased by the decision. Not least of all Zeanah, who voted against the motion.

During debate, Zeanah implied that her colleagues were being bullied by the threat of a lawsuit.

“This September, I believe, we made a get-tough, stick-by-our-residents speech,” and erected the barricade, she said. “Yet when we had to make a choice, we backed off to keep social relations with the school board.”

While she wants to see closer relations with school leaders, Parks said, the agreement to keep the back gate shut may still be too shaky. How long will the gate stay shut? she wondered.

“I have a concern about when the school board will again open the gate and allow access to cars,” she said before the meeting. “I’m very concerned about this agreement being so open-ended.”

Fox countered that school officials have stated in several letters to the City Council that the gate will stay closed if the barrier is removed.

After holding up the vote for a minute to think, Parks sided with Fox, Mayor Mike Markey and Councilwoman Judy Lazar in agreeing to remove the barricades.

Some Waverly Heights neighbors were unhappy with the decision.

“Quite frankly, I feel like we’ve been stabbed in the back,” said resident Thomas Goins. “ . . . If the residents don’t want something to happen, why would you do something different?”

Added resident Donna Ward: “I’m not a combative person, nor do I walk away from a fight. But it appears, from council member Andy Fox’s recommendation, that you are walking away from a just fight.”

While residents’ pleas went unheeded, the council did unanimously authorize a new traffic survey of the Waverly Heights neighborhood. At the suggestion of Lazar, city staffers were instructed to count car trips on a school day before May to see if removing the barrier increases traffic.

Times correspondent Lisa Fernandez contributed to this story.