Mountain View Annexation on Hold for Now

With the Mont Calabasas gated community now officially part of Calabasas after it was , residents of another community, Mountain View Estates, are debating their continued independence.

In May 2010, the l voted to approve the potential annexation of Mountain View, a 385-home community which lies just outside the city's borders as an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. The city sent its application to Los Angeles County's Local Agency Formation Commission that same month for final consideration.

According to Calabasas city spokeswoman Deborah Steller, more than a year, later the commission has yet to make a decision regarding the application. However, she added that it's likely that the city and and L.A. County will begin property tax revenue sharing agreements sometime next year.

Some Mountain View residents say they feel like they have been left in limbo.

David Aizuss, the president of the Mountain View Homeowner's Association, said there has been no communication between Calabasas and the gated community since the city council's vote. The lack of dialogue does not bode well for the city's annexation plans, he said.

"I think the city is failing in every respect in its efforts to get Mountain View in favor of annexation. And I came into this process neutral, maybe even for. But I don't feel that way anymore," Aizuss said. "I have seen no efforts by the city at all to hold any sort of open meeting with the residents of Mountain View on a regular basis over the last year or to education any of us."

Steller said the city would be open to communicating with Mountain View homeowners.

"We would welcome another invitation if the HOA wishes to meet with the city to discuss the issue further," she wrote in an email.

Carol Elliott, who's been one of the community's most vocal opponents to the annexation, said the initial attempt by the city to reach out to residents was flawed.

She said in August 2009, Calabasas sent out a survey to the community asking them about a potential annexation of Mountain View.

"It was badly worded," she said, claiming that residents who marked that they were simply interested in learning more about annexation were taken as "yes" votes on supporting the move to become part of the city. 

Elliott said the community did an informal survey of its own, with 80 percent of respondents saying they would not favor annexation.

The opposition comes despite the benefits Calabasas officials have presented, the most obvious of these being a chance for the community to have a better say in local politics - currently, Mountain View residents can't vote in any Calabasas elections.

The city has also said that annexation would prevent the community's tax dollars from going mostly to L.A. County. Mountain View residents pay about $500,000 in taxes, and Calabasas officials have said annexation would allow much more of that money to flow back into community.

Aizuss said he's unconvinced.

"We're all pretty happy being part of [L.A.] county," he said. "It's not going to change our police protection, it's not going to change our fire protection. So what's it do? It gets us involved in the local politics of the city of Calabasas, and I don't think that's a benefit."

Both Elliott and Aizuss said some Mountain View residents have expressed fear over what they see as intrusion by the city in other neighborhoods.

"[Calabasas is] a very regulating city," Elliott said. "You can't have your cars washed in their own community unless its approved."

Aizuss, whose home is currently being remodeled, said a friend who lives in a neighborhood of Calabasas and whose home is undergoing a similar remodeling process has run into far more regulations than he has.

"The process for me to get permits from the county was simple, easy, painless," Aizuss said. "If I had wanted to do the same kind of project on my home as a resident of the city of Calabasas, the process is much more complex and involved and complicated."

Residents on Mountain View will probably have plenty of time to weigh their options, however, as Elliot said the anenxation of Mont Calabasas took about four years to be completed.

For more information about the proposed Mountain View Estates annexation, click here.