Agoura Hills City Council

The Agoura Hills City Council voted Wednesday to trade a city park for a larger, undeveloped piece of land that officials want to turn into a park. The developer has an option to buy the 10-acre site and could have built up to 16 homes on it. The five-member council approved the swap unanimously and with little comment. When the plan was unveiled in January, council members said the deal would allow the city to obtain a valuable piece of future parkland from a developer.

Planning Director Mike Kamino unrolled a 5-foot-long map of Agoura Hills and drew Xs through a cluster of red dots north of the Ventura Freeway. The dots stood for three billboards that had been torn down a couple of years ago. Three down and 11 to go. "Eventually, they'll become extinct," said Kamino, who has watched the city's 19-year battle against billboards, pole signs and other forms of "visual pollution," as the anti-sign forces call it.

Four political outsiders are battling the mayor and a planning commissioner for two seats on the Agoura Hills City Council in the bedroom community's fifth general election, a race defined as much by personalities and perceptions as by issues. The four outsiders are fueling their campaigns with charges that Mayor Louise Rishoff and Planning Commissioner Joan E.

Experience counts. On Tuesday, voters in the 41st Assembly District will decide who will represent them in Sacramento. Fran Pavley is the hands-down choice. Her 15 years serving on the Agoura Hills City Council and countless regional and state partnerships make her ready to "hit the ground running" legislatively. She has a proven record of protecting the environment, including as a member of the California Coastal Commission, and of opposing urban sprawl and the traffic nightmares of development like the massive Ahmanson Ranch.

Faced with complaints from business owners and residents about day laborers soliciting work from a street corner, the Agoura Hills City Council wants to do something but is unsure what. In a discussion Wednesday night, council members acknowledged that the daily gathering of as many as 75 laborers at Agoura and Kanan roads or other sites along Kanan Road is causing problems.

The Agoura Hills City Council will choose a new mayor and mayor pro tem tonight at a ceremony at the Parks and Recreation Center. Under the council's informal rotation plan, Mayor Fran Pavley probably will be succeeded by Mayor Pro Tem Ed Kurtz. He will be replaced by Joan Yacovone, a former planning commissioner who received the most votes in April's municipal election. The ceremony begins at 7 p.m.

America, the Land of the Free? Except in Agoura Hills. After reading about the people of El Salvador, Mexico and Guatemala who are seeking work as painters, masons, gardeners and laborers, it is apparent the Agoura Hills City Council and their backers do not understand compassion. The workers only want to support their families. Is that so difficult to understand? I do, however, agree that the location at Roadside Drive and Kanan Road is not a good site for these people to gather to seek employment.

The Agoura Hills City Council reappointed all five current members of the Planning Commission. Reappointed were James T. Friedl Jr., Chris Hendricks and William Koehler, all of whom were first appointed in 1993, and Jeff Reinhardt, who was first appointed in 1992. Diane Walker, a member of the commission since 1989, was also reappointed. The five were chosen from 11 applicants, city officials said. Their terms will expire in two years.

Without opposition, the Agoura Hills City Council gave preliminary approval this week to a ban on smoking in restaurants. At its regular Wednesday night meeting, the council unanimously accepted the language of an ordinance that would outlaw smoking inside restaurants, except in bar areas. The city already requires that at least half of any restaurant with a capacity of more than 50 people be designated as nonsmoking.

A Pepperdine University professor who was active in a failed attempt to recall four Agoura Hills City Council members charged Tuesday that the fifth member of the council actively supported the recall drive while publicly saying he was neutral. Councilman Jack W. Koenig helped plot their strategy during a meeting with recall proponents in March, according to a legal declaration filed Tuesday by former recall activist Paul Sheldon Foote.

Fran Pavley, the city's first mayor, this week again took the oath of office for that post, launching her fourth, and what she said will be her final, term. The mayor is chosen among council members, and Pavley said she will not again run for the council. The ceremony took place at a City Council meeting Monday night. Councilman Denis Weber was named mayor pro tem.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday upheld a state Court of Appeal decision to throw out several hundred signatures on a recall petition, possibly bringing an end to an attempt to recall members of the City Council. Judge Diane Wayne ruled that the signatures were invalid on "technicalities," such as incorrect addresses or names, said Mark Rosen, an attorney who represents Citizens Against New Local Taxes, the group that sought a recall election.

Prompted by a California Supreme Court ruling that restricts the power of local governments to impose special taxes, voters here on Tuesday will determine the fate of a controversial utility tax enacted in 1994. The Agoura Hills City Council passed the tax on gas, electricity and phone service without a public vote two years ago.

The Agoura Hills City Council on Wednesday will consider a proposal to charge fees for horse shows and clinics at the city's new equestrian center. Under the plan, a $100 fee would be charged for each four-hour period taken by horse shows, clinics and other events. A $250 refundable cleaning deposit would be required. Smaller groups would be charged $10 per hour and would be allowed to book the facility for 1 1/2 hours at a time. No cleanup deposit would be required.

Speed bumps will soon be installed along Rainbow Crest Drive in Agoura Hills by the request of neighborhood residents, who fear that uncontrolled speeding will bring tragedy. The City Council approved the project last year but delayed installation due to the city's strained fiscal situation. The council decided to proceed, officials said, because the project was deemed relatively inexpensive at an estimated cost of $17,000.

An Agoura Hills anti-tax group that is trying to recall three City Council members suffered a setback recently when the state Court of Appeal ruled that voter registration cards turned in by the group were invalid. However, the court ruled in the group's favor on two other key points, keeping the effort to recall council members Ed Corridori, Denis Weber and Fran Pavley alive. The group launched the recall effort against all five council members after they adopted a utility tax in 1994.

Barbara Murphy, leader of a group trying to recall the five-member Agoura Hills City Council, plans to volunteer time to help a group of Cypress residents launch a recall against the Cypress City Council. "We should all help each other to get the message across, because they won't get the message otherwise," Murphy said. Her group, Citizens Against New Local Taxes, launched its recall movement in the summer after the Agoura Hills City Council voted to levy a 4% utility tax on residents.

Six candidates for the Agoura Hills City Council filed campaign finance statements by Thursday's 6 p.m. deadline, including one incumbent and two others who've run as candidates in past elections. Paul (Gary) Mueller, who owns Gary's Auto Parts and came within six votes of capturing a council seat in the 1991 election, led all candidates with more than $6,100 in his war chest.

The Agoura Hills City Council reappointed all five current members of the Planning Commission. Reappointed were James T. Friedl Jr., Chris Hendricks and William Koehler, all of whom were first appointed in 1993, and Jeff Reinhardt, who was first appointed in 1992. Diane Walker, a member of the commission since 1989, was also reappointed. The five were chosen from 11 applicants, city officials said. Their terms will expire in two years.

The Agoura Hills City Council has banned heavy trucks from a half-mile stretch of Thousand Oaks Boulevard near a PriceCostco store under construction in neighboring Westlake Village. The ordinance, approved this week by the City Council, bans trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds. City officials say that as construction on the store progresses, they fear traffic will increase, and some truck drivers will be tempted to use Thousand Oaks Boulevard as an alternative route to the Ventura Freeway.