Parks Agency Gets Time to Bid on Former Agoura Fair Parcel

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors postponed a decision Thursday on a plan to develop the former Renaissance Pleasure Faire site in Agoura, which gives a state parks agency time to make an offer for the property.

Developer Brian Heller’s proposal to build 159 houses where the county general plan allows 103 houses has been controversial partly because of efforts by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to acquire the property.

Heller has been unwilling to sell the property. But parks officials have said that approval of the 159 houses would increase the site’s development value and put it out of the conservancy’s reach--should the developer change his mind or should the land be condemned.

The supervisors’ delay to March 2 will allow the conservancy time to finish an appraisal of the 320-acre site, said Joseph T. Edmiston, conservancy executive director.

The conservancy could make Heller an offer for the property if its appraised value is within what the agency can afford, Edmiston said. He would not elaborate on how much the conservancy might be willing to offer.

“It gives us a chance,” Edmiston said. “There will be enough time to make communication with the landowner.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, moved for the continuance Thursday at the request of Supervisor Deane Dana, who could not attend the meeting. Dana’s office was flooded with calls in recent days from citizens on both sides of the dispute who had learned that Dana and Supervisor Peter F. Schabarum would be absent, said Don Knabe, Dana’s chief deputy.

Neither Dana nor Schabarum has said how he will vote on the issue. But at a Jan. 12 board meeting, Schabarum said he was skeptical about whether the conservancy is serious about buying the property. And Dana said at the earlier meeting that the conservancy deserved more time to make an offer.

Heller has characterized the conservancy’s efforts to acquire the land as an 11th-hour attempt to stop his development.