6 Candidates Are in Accord on Growth

If there is one issue that unites the six candidates for Calabasas City Council, it’s their opposition to unchecked commercial and residential development which they say would increase traffic, drain public services and harm the environment.

Many describe Calabasas as an affluent community with lush parks, good schools and prosperous businesses, yet they realize that outside forces could infringe on their quality of life.

On March 4, voters will elect two candidates to the five-member council.

Most candidates have said they would oppose the Ahmanson Ranch development, a proposed 3,050-home project on 2,800 undeveloped acres at the city’s northern edge. They also have said they would work to maintain open space, attract quality businesses and respond quickly to residents’ concerns.

As a former mayor and councilman, Robert Sibilia, 44, an attorney, said he knows how to build consensus among council members to keep the city moving forward.

“Campaign promises are common, but decisions are only made by a majority vote of the council,” he said. “Without cooperation and focus, even the best-intended plans will go unimplemented.”

Sibilia pledged to work with council members to fight Ahmanson Ranch, develop youth programs and get the stalled plan for a city hall and library moving again.

Political newcomer Gail Schroeder , 65, a pharmacist, said she hopes to bring a fresh viewpoint to the council. “You don’t have to be a lawyer or a politician to serve on the Calabasas City Council,” she said. “I feel that I have a lot of valuable life experience that would be useful. A different perspective in the mix would be nice.”

If elected, Schroeder said she would push for stricter controls on municipal spending and press Ahmanson Ranch developers for safeguards against air and soil contamination.

Businesswoman Karmen Brower, who declined to give her age, said traffic controls in the Mulwood/Mulholland Highway and Malibu Canyon areas, a sound wall for the Saratoga area, a public transit system and Ahmanson Ranch are the most critical issues facing Calabasas residents. She said it will take a united council and a committed city staff to solve these problems.

“One of the most important requirements for serving on the council is to help create a ... reasonable level of unity so the business of the city can go forward expeditiously,” she said, adding that the city staff also needs to “clearly understand the council’s priorities and the timetable for accomplishing them.”

Incumbent Councilman Dennis Washburn, 60, said he would spend his next term launching community development projects without new taxes, bring more county, state and federal dollars into Calabasas, and generate “good, clean” revenue from industry, retailers and entertainment businesses.

A city founder and three-time mayor, Washburn, an advertising, public relations and marketing executive, said he would use his conservative entrepreneurial management style to create a spending plan that would maintain financial reserves to keep Calabasas fiscally sound.

Protecting the environment, eliminating wasteful municipal spending and preserving city reserves would be important issues for environmental lawyer Barry Groveman, 49.

The former prosecutor, who has fought corporate polluters and co-authored California’s Safe Drinking Water Act, said he would aggressively fight Ahmanson Ranch and the traffic congestion he says the project would probably bring.

“I’ve frequently and effectively challenged the status quo on behalf of public health and welfare,” he said. “I’m not deterred by entrenched ideas nor bureaucratic obstacles.”

Incumbent Councilwoman Janice Lee, 51, an environmental advocate, said her voting record reflects her hometown values: open-space acquisitions, street beautification projects and quality after-school programs, among other initiatives.

“The result is a vibrant and beautiful town,” she said. “Calabasas is blessed with great resources and people with tremendous community pride.”

While the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and state deficits have presented tough choices, Lee said she will work to “maintain our hometown security and lifestyle.”

In addition to electing two council members, voters will decide whether to keep a 5% tax on gas, electricity and telephone service that residents have paid since the city incorporated in 1991.

Proponents said the tax, which adds $2.5 million to the city’s annual $17.8-million general fund, helps pay for parks and recreation, public safety and road repairs.

Critics contend that city residents never had the opportunity to vote on the tax because it was passed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors before Calabasas became a city.

However, city officials said the utility tax and other assessments were included as part of the cityhood incorporation ballot measure.