Business Leaders Back Open Space Ordinance

Area business leaders on Wednesday expressed support for a voter-approved ordinance designed to protect the city’s open space.

In Tuesday’s election, 90% of voters approved Measure B, which required a two-thirds majority to change the designation of city land zoned as open space.

The measure will be good for Agoura Hills businesses because it will encourage people to stay in the city or to move there, said Ed Kurtz, president of the Agoura/Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce and owner of California Marketplace, a food and gift basket business. “I chose to have my business in Agoura Hills . . . employees like that it’s pretty outside.”

About 40% of the city is designated as open space, with much of the remaining flatland already developed, said Mayor Pro Tem Louise Rishoff, who along with Mayor Dan Kuperberg were expected to win reelection Tuesday.

Although handwritten ballots have yet to be counted, challenger and write-in candidate Kenneth Horton conceded defeat Wednesday.

Before passage of Measure B, open space could be rezoned for commercial use by a majority vote of the five-member City Council.

But Horton, who said he supports the idea of open space but opposed Measure B, said he foresees years of financial strife and lawsuits for the city due to the measure.

“It’s going to be a long, tough road ahead to implement the measure” because property owners will fight to develop properties classified as open space, said Horton, 52, director of financial aid and business development at a computer learning center.

In Westlake Village, Mayor Betty De Santis won reelection while two other candidates await the absentee ballot count to determine the winner of a second City Council seat.

Mayor Pro Tem James B. Henderson came in second with 632 votes--only one more than challenger Chris Mann. The city expects to have updated election results Friday.

“I keep getting calls from people saying, ‘I’m so sorry you lost by one vote,”’ joked Mann, 23, a child behavior specialist at Casa Pacifica, a residential and shelter facility for at-risk youth in Camarillo. “We’re on pins and needles here.”