City, School District Agree on Foxfield Site

In separate actions, the Las Virgenes Unified School District board of trustees and the Westlake Village City Council ended a struggle for a site on Foxfield Drive by approving a 55-year lease agreement on a parcel in Westlake North in exchange for the city’s retaining ownership of the Foxfield site.

According to Westlake Village City Manager Ray Taylor, under the terms of the agreement the city will lease to the district a 10,000-square-foot parcel in the Westlake North development, adjacent to a four-acre park planned for the project.

The city acquired the land from the Westlake North developer after a lot-line adjustment allowed the construction of two more housing units in the area, but left the small parcel unusable to the city and the developer.

In a deal some negotiators called “inspired” and “genius,” the two sides agreed that the Foxfield site remain in the city’s hands, while the new Westlake North parcel be used for a federally mandated preschool, which will be operated by the district.

The district will lease the parcel for $1 per year. The school will use about 3,800 square feet of the parcel, while the remaining 6,200 square feet will be kept open.

At the center of the controversy that has been brewing for the last few months was a 1 1/2-acre site at Foxfield Drive and Lindero Canyon Road.

The school district had given the site to the city in a development agreement, on the condition that it be used for a public building, and the city had 10 years to determine what that might be.

The city began discussing the site late last year, as the May 3 deadline neared. After the city declared its intention in March to use the site for an unspecified civic purpose, the school district threatened legal action to repossess the lot on the grounds that the declaration was too vague and did not meet the terms of the original development agreement signed in 1987.