Agoura Hills reaches out to city’s business leaders

The city of Agoura Hills wants to change its stripes and become friendlier to the local business community.

The city hosted a half-day roundtable last week and invited more than two dozen local entrepreneurs to voice their opinions about current city government.

Often at odds with the city in the past, landowners and business owners said most of their concerns have to do with signage and development laws imposed by the city. Both are too restrictive, they said.

Developers have proposed almost one million square feet of commercial, residential and office space in Agoura Hills, but the planning process often takes too long, they complained.

"I thought it was time to give them a platform to maybe discuss issues with the city, what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong," said Denis Weber, the Agoura Hills mayor who suggested the roundtable.

Individuals who attended the event included Dan Selleck, developer of the former Home Depot site on Agoura Road, Moshe Silagi, the biggest office developer in the city, and Martin Green, owner of the Agoura City Mall shopping center.

Businesses should be given the leeway to erect more attractive signs, said Vance Moran, owner of the Whizin’s Mall.

"Some of the people said the fact that signs have to be all the same color and size makes it pretty hard for customers to really see them," Moran said.

During the 1990s, Agoura Hills fought a vicious legal battle with the business owners over pole sign restrictions.

Weber said some of the developers complained about high development fees, but he pointed out that Agoura Hills imposes no sales tax, utility tax or gross receipts tax as other cities do.

Some developers suggested more mixed-use development––a combination of homes and businesses in the same location––be allowed on the south side of the 101 Freeway. Most of Agoura Hill’s residential zoning lies on the north side of the freeway, including the proposed $70 million J.H. Snyder Riverwalk development that includes 336 apartments and would be built adjacent offices and restaurants.

Other topics at the discussion included street repairs and the status of the Kanan Road interchange project, which finally has reached the planning stages. Construction on the new on/off ramps is scheduled for November, 2003.

"They sensed the city had major changes in their approach to business," Weber said. "They felt much better about the city over the past couple of years."

Moran said he looked forward to similar meetings in the future.

"It went very, very well. I agree with the city, I think we should have them more often," he said.