AGOURA HILLS LAWMAKER WINS PLANNING AWARD.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

In the 15 years since Fran Pavley took her seat on the city's first City Council, she has seen Agoura Hills become a community with more parks, oak trees and protected open space.

Pavley also has learned more about city growth than she ever expected, earning a master's degree in environmental planning while tackling how to attract businesses and bring down billboards (the tally to date: 10 down, 12 to go).

``The reason I ran for office to begin with in 1982 was to put a stronger emphasis on land-use planning,'' Pavley said. ``Decisions were being made from 40 miles away (by Los Angeles County). It was piecemeal development - and during a time of explosive growth.''

Pavley's leadership over the years won respect from the city's planners, whose nomination garnered her this year's American Planning Association's Distinguished Leadership Award for an elected official.

On Thursday, Pavley will accept the award for the Los Angeles region during a dinner ceremony in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles. She now will be considered for the statewide award.

``We thought it would be appropriate to honor her planning contributions,'' said senior planner Mike Kamino. ``A lot of things she set in motion are all planning related. She's heavily involved in many open-space issues.''

The award came as a surprise to Pavley, who didn't know she had been nominated until City Manager Dave Adams announced that she'd won the award during a League of California Cities dinner last week.

But she acknowledges that the city's councils have made a difference over the years, and Pavley certainly has played a large role in the achievements.

``There are a lot of things people don't see. There are strong hillsides. There is oak tree preservation. There's quite a long list of what the city has done for the community,'' said Pavley, a Moorpark schoolteacher who has decided not to seek re-election in November.

Pavley, serving as mayor for the fourth time, has helped develop Agoura Hills' first General Plan, a growth concept for the Ventura Freeway corridor and a village retail plan for Agoura Road.

The Agoura Road plan will help the city create an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall, which the council envisions as being anchored by a Mann theater, which is working its way through planning, and filled with boutiques and restaurants.

While creating these projects, Agoura Hills has had to work around policies previously allowed by Los Angeles County, Pavley said.

City leaders have fought for years to eliminate pole signs and billboards along the Ventura Freeway that existed before the city incorporated, but new laws have limited cities' power, she said.

``It's hard to undo things. That's the one lesson I've learned,'' Pavley said.