Local News in Brief : Commission OKs Plan to Develop Fair Site

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission gave its final approval Wednesday to a developer’s plan to build 159 single-family homes on the Agoura site of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

The proposed development, on 320 rolling acres that have been targeted for acquisition by the National Park Service, now must be considered by the county Board of Supervisors, which has not set a hearing date.

Owner Arthur Whizin and developer Brian Heller are seeking zoning and planning changes and the removal of 122 oak trees for the project near Cornell and Wagon roads. The Regional Planning Commission tentatively approved the Heller proposal in April.

Pro-fair groups--including the Living History Center, which stages the fair, the Historic Oaks Foundation, the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation and the Agoura Homeowners for the Preservation of the Environment--have lobbied Supervisor Mike Antonovich to oppose the development. Antonovich represents the area.

The National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy have expressed strong interest in buying the land, estimated to be worth $14 million without the zoning and planning changes.

Last month, conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston told the Las Virgenes homeowners group that if those proposed changes were approved, efforts to buy the land for park use would be “in big trouble” because the land’s value would increase.

Antonovich has said he would support the parkland proposal if he could be assured that the owner would be paid a fair price.