Handful of Voters to Pick School District

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

An electoral quirk has given the 120 residents of an 11-acre sliver of exclusive real estate the sole right to decide whether they will leave the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District for the highly regarded Las Virgenes district.

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.

Los Angeles Unified officials do not object to the proposed mini-secession. But Las Virgenes officials oppose it, saying their schools already 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 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 cost up to $500,000, was built in the mid-1980s with 55 condos in the city of Los Angeles and the rest on county land. When Calabasas incorporated in 1991, the development suddenly straddled two cities.

In 1998, Calabasas sought to annex the small chunk of Woodland Hills, aiming to unite the two halves of the complex. The municipal effort is continuing, but would not resolve the school district issue.

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. Earlier this year, committee members ruled that only the 55 households in the Woodland Hills portion would get to 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. So only those registered voters who live within that affected area can vote on the measure.”

Fee Sought From Incoming Homeowners

In past discussions with Creekside, the Las Virgenes district has requested 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 for the 40 houses in Calabasas in the mid-1980s, according to district records.

But 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 developer’s fees.”

Zimring said passage of Measure Q would send a dangerous message that developer fees, designed to help pay the cost of public education, can be evaded.

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 simply 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,” Levine said. “We want to incorporate so we have a sense of wholeness in the community. We are just trying to clean this whole thing up.”

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

“Typically speaking, as most Realtors will tell you, a home in our district will fetch a much higher selling price than one in Los Angeles Unified School District,” Zimring said. “When they run their ads, Realtors prominently display that these are Las Virgenes schools. There is no question in my mind what this is about.”

Fred Sands Realtor 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. Basically, it’s a way of maintaining property values. If you have school-age children, you prefer them to be in Las Virgenes. Those with children are willing to pay more for the same property.”

Perception Is LAUSD ‘Has Gobs of Problems’

George Wallace, who has lived in the Los Angeles portion of the development since 1987, said he already submitted his yes vote for Measure Q.

“I don’t have any school-age kids,” Wallace said. “But when I get around to selling the house, the value of being Las Virgenes-bound is going to be higher than being in LAUSD. The general perception is that LAUSD has gobs of problems.”

Glenda Bruner, who also lives in the Los Angeles portion of Creekside, has a 10-year-old daughter and backs Measure Q.

Although her daughter now attends a Catholic school, she attended kindergarten and second grade in Las Virgenes on a permit that was revoked when schools grew overcrowded.

“We would rather have sold our place and moved across the street into the Calabasas portion so she could go to Las Virgenes,” Bruner said. “ . . . People want to send their kids to good schools.”