Only a Few Can Vote to Leave L.A. Unified

Hanging inconspicuously at the end of Tuesday’s ballot, Measure Q may be decided by fewer voters than any other in Los Angeles County.

The 120 residents of an 11-acre sliver of exclusive real estate in the San Fernando Valley have the sole right to decide whether they will leave the Los Angeles Unified School District for the highly regarded Las Virgenes district, which includes the adjacent city of Calabasas.

The residents live in 55 condos in a 95-unit complex that is split between Los Angeles and Calabasas.

The move would immediately affect no more than two school-age children, but almost certainly would boost property values, residents and real estate agents said.

L.A. Unified officials do not oppose the proposed secession. But Las Virgenes officials do, saying that their schools are overcrowded and that the 37,000 registered voters in their district should have a say in the matter.

“It’s just not fair,” Donald Zimring, deputy superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said last week. “I think it’s a strange situation, with this law where one small group of constituents can vote on something that benefits them entirely, at the expense of other constituents who have absolutely no say.”

Those eligible to vote on Measure Q live in 55 upscale condominiums in the Creekside Calabasas Park development. They are mostly retirees or childless professionals, according to residents.

The gated community, where homes now cost as much as $500,000, was built in the mid-1980s, with 55 condos in the city of Los Angeles and 40 on county land. When Calabasas incorporated in 1991, the development suddenly straddled two cities.

Since 1998, Calabasas officials have sought to annex the small chunk of land to their city.

After gathering the requisite number of signatures, the Creekside Calabasas Homeowners Assn. presented its request to the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization.

When two school districts disagree on land transfers, the 11-member committee is authorized by state law to determine who will decide the issue at the polls. Committee members ruled that only the households in the Los Angeles portion could vote.

“The committee decided who they felt would be substantially affected by the transfer,” said Greg Magnuson, acting secretary for the county committee. “They decided Las Virgenes wouldn’t be. “

In past discussions with Creekside, the Las Virgenes district has asked that the incoming homeowners pay a fee roughly equivalent to what the developer paid in the mid-1980s for the Calabasas portion.

Such per-household payments would range from $650 to $1,948, depending on the number of bedrooms. Based on the same rate, the Creekside developer paid the Las Virgenes district $48,000 in 1985 and 1986, according to district records.

If Measure Q passes, the 55 homeowners would be required to pay nothing.

“Developer fees are paid based on new construction,” Magnuson said. “I’m not aware of any community or resident that has been transferred from one district to another that has ever had to pay developers’ fees.”

Clifford Levine, president of the Creekside Calabasas Homeowners Assn., who lives on the Los Angeles side, acknowledged that property values could go up but said Measure Q is designed to unify the small community.

“How the builder ever got permission to build 95 homes with a border that ran through the middle of the street is ridiculous,” he said. “

But Zimring, and some who signed the petition for transfer, said property values are driving the measure.

A Fred Sands real estate agent, Myra Turek, who has sold more than 20 homes in Creekside Calabasas, agreed.

“It’s another sales point,” she said. “What we find, is homes sell better on the Las Virgenes side.”