CALABASAS COUNCIL RACE HEATS UP OVER DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

Favored for its outdoorsy ambience, this tiny city is only 6 years old, but its upcoming City Council contest has shaped up like an old-fashioned battle among seasoned politicos.

As Tuesday's balloting nears, candidates are swapping accusations, thumping their chests and pounding the pavement, all in an effort to win over the city's 12,000 registered voters.

``This election is about control - who's going to control this city,'' said Councilman Marvin Lopata, among seven candidates vying for three seats.

The key issue behind the frenzied politicking is the controversial Kilroy Calabasas Park Centre, a mixed-use development proposed south of Calabasas Road between Parkway Calabasas and Park Granada Boulevard.

The project, which still must get approval from the Planning Commission and City Council, includes a hotel, apartment complex, movie theater, offices and Ralphs grocery store.

But with the project considerably scaled back as a result of community opposition, the debate now appears to be as much about who should take credit for its smaller size as it is about the development itself.

Earlier this year, Mayor Bob Hill penned a ``Dear Citizens'' letter praising the city for achieving a 40 percent reduction in the project's size.

The Feb. 12 letter took aim at candidate Toby Keeler and other council hopefuls who have been critical of the project - incumbent Lesley Devine and Bob Sibilia - whom he claimed are exploiting the issue in the absence of anything else to arouse voter interest.

Keeler, a documentary producer, is president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation and a former planning commissioner.

He once voted in favor of the project but now decries its repetitive stucco and red-tile roofs, which he said would make Calabasas from the sky, ``look like a big pumpkin.''

Devine, an environmental consultant, is the council's leading critic of Calabasas Park Centre. ``It's really awful,'' she said. ``Basically, it's a strip mall bounded by dense apartments and a motel.''

Sibilia, an attorney, is co-founder of Save Our City, a citizens group which mounted a petition drive against the development two years ago.

Hill's letter prompted an angry response from Save Our City co-founder Michael Fichera Jr., and council critics Don Wallace and Bob Ronka.

The ``Dear Calabasas Neighbors'' mailing credited Save Our City with achieving the size reductions, claiming they were won, ``in spite of, not because of the current City Council majority.''

The letter urged support for Devine, Keeler and Sibilia, while attacking Lopata and candidate Michael Tingus, a Planning Commission member and industrial real estate broker.

Fichera's letter said the two ``sided with the developer against the homeowners on this crucial issue.''

The developer is the El Segundo-based Kilroy Realty Corp.

Lopata, a real estate appraiser, said the project is supported by many Calabasas residents.

He noted that some of those who oppose Calabasas Park Centre favored a multiplex theater that was not in their neighborhood.

``This is a NIMBY,'' Lopata said. ``This is not Save Our City. This is Save Our Neighborhood.''

Tingus said that he is no friend to developers, having voted against them many times on the Planning Commissioner.

He said his job in the industrial real estate business would serve him well as a council member because ``I know their (developers') game.''

Some candidates have managed to stay out of the fray.

James Bozajian, a Los Angeles County prosecutor and member of the Calabasas Community Policing Advisory Committee, speaks proudly of his work establishing a volunteer police force for Calabasas and starting up a teen court.

``I think my background in law enforcement will be a valuable asset to the council,'' said Bozajian, former president of the county's Deputy District Attorneys Association.

Craig Cignarelli is probably better known as the ex-best friend of Erik Menendez, who is serving a life sentence for killing his parents.

But as the 26-year-old west end resident said, ``I'm running on my convictions, not the Menendez convictions.''

If elected, Cignarelli said he would strive to create a partnership between the city, the business community and the schools. For instance, he would find community service projects for students or help them land internships in local businesses.

``We need more professionalism and representation of the younger generation on the council,'' he said.

Calabasas Park Centre was first proposed a couple of years before the city incorporated in 1991.

It aroused heated opposition, particularly from the politically powerful Calabasas Park Homeowners Association, in whose back yard it is located.

Save Our City collected more than 2,000 signatures to force a referendum on the project, but the city refused, instead appointing a task force to work with the developer.

Lopata said the city could have faced lawsuits if it had called an election.

After 18 months of meetings with a citizens task force, Kilroy scaled back the project from 1.5 million to 1.1 million square feet, reducing expected daily vehicle trips from 27,000 to 15,000.

The project's final configuration may be even smaller - about 900,000 square feet, according to city officials.