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Health & Fitness

Agoura City Council's Secrecy Illegal? Decision to sell Chesebro Meadow made behind public's back.

City Council may have violated the Ralph M. Brown act when it decided to sell 71 acres to a developer in a closed door session.  The Brown Act is an open meetings law that guarantees the public’s access to government meetings and prohibits secret meetings of government bodies.  It is likely that strong public opposition to the sale would have forced the city to stay on it's path to aquire clear title to the property, so that it could be sold to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.  The SMMC recently put the parcel on it's short list for eventual purchase.

Read this letter from the president of the Old Agoura Homeowner's Association, Jess Thomas:

The OLD AGOURA HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION  Board of Directors is extremely exasperated at the outcome of our quest to preserve the Chesebro Meadow as open space buffer to an existing wildlife corridor and planned wildlife-only tunnel under the freeway. Thirty years ago, one of our members chained himself to the remaining ancient Oak tree while developer Jerry Oren's crew cut down the remainder of the forest just days before the L.A. County Oak tree ordinance went into effect. A dozen years ago, we joined with the environmental heroes at Save Open Space to file suit against the County for illegally approving the Heschel School.

 For months, we have been searching for funding sources to buy the land for a public agency to own and manage. Senator Fran Pavley petitioned for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to apply for state funds specifically designated for mountain lion habitat. But all sources we identified required a willing seller of a clear title. That's why we were so strongly pressing the City to carry through with the lawsuit. At a meeting with City officials on June 24, we expressed the need for more time to seek funding, as no trial date had been announced by the court system.

 Nothing was said about the urgency of a settlement. At the City Council meeting on June 26, a video of which can viewed on the City Website now, the City Attorney reported that a closed session on the lawsuit had been held that day, but no "reportable action" had resulted. We were in shocked disbelief to receive a phone call, from a reporter at The Acorn on the morning of July 1, asking about our reaction to the City having settled the lawsuit, and effectively sold the land.

Find out what's happening in Agoura Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 From the beginning of talks about development proposals, we were assured that any deal would require that Old Agoura be "made whole" as to the attorney fees we paid out over the years. Later on, we were assured that any settlement deal would require a public vote, by the entire Council, at a noticed public hearing. Neither has happened, and no Council member has contacted us with explanation.

 We are left to wonder when or if all the Council members voted on the settlement, and if so, whether it was legal to do so in private.

Find out what's happening in Agoura Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 We are also left to wonder why we were treated in such a disrespectful, shabby, and ham-fisted manner.

Jess Thomas

President

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