Office park developer told to reduce scope of project

By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

It’s back to the drawing board for Alesco Development, a Woodland Hills-based firm that’s proposed a development of nine Tuscan-styled office buildings in a campus-style design for the northeast corner of Agoura, Chesebro and Palo Comado Canyon roads in Agoura Hills.

In a continued public hearing last week, planning commissioners advised the applicant to present a less dense project. Alesco Development was seeking a conditional use permit (CUP) to reconfigure 10 existing lots to develop nine two-story office buildings. A variance was also being sought regarding building footprints, building setbacks, parking and landscaping, the removal of two oak trees and encroachment into protected zones of nine oak trees.

According to the staff report, the buildings would have ranged in size from 3,961 square feet to 13,075 square feet on 4.13 acres. The total proposal was 67,167 square feet and there would have been subterranean parking. The project was designed to accommodate small businesses.

Several issues that had been raised at a July public meeting were reviewed by staff and presented last week. Staff members in city hall presented mitigation measures on traffic, parking and landscaping.

Commissioners seemed delighted over the architectural design of the proposal, but after hearing public testimony, they ultimately concluded that it was too intense.

Joan Yacovone, a former mayor and councilwoman in Agoura Hills, calculated that a previous project had been approved by planning commissioners only to be defeated by the council. The former proposal, according to Yacovone, would have spanned 45,000 square feet on 3.27 acres. If the same ratio were applied, the Alesco Development should have been no more than 57,000 square feet, Yacovone said. She also noted that the five smaller buildings were so close to each other that they appeared to be one long building.

Yacovone called for either the elimination of one building or smaller-size structures to cut out about 10,000 square feet.

A.J. Ponsiglione, a resident who lives directly behind the proposed development, told commissioners that he was primarily concerned about the variance. He said that the second-story office building would look directly into his second-story bedroom.

"We’ll be able to wave to people in the office building," Ponsiglione said. The project would have been only 300 yards from his home, he said. Ponsiglione called for extra screening to protect privacy and for noise reduction measures.

A representative for the applicant said, "The project is being built at 50 percent of what is allowed." If one building were to be eliminated, said the Alesco representative, it might threaten the economic feasibility of the entire proposal.

Planning Commissioner Phil Ramuno said, "This is a different kind of project for us." While he approved of the overall design, Ramuno said he couldn’t approve the variance to decrease the setback because the buildings would be too close to the street.

Commissioner Harry Schwarz said that he liked the concept of separate buildings vs. "linear and massive buildings." But because the buildings were so close to each other, Schwarz said, the development would have looked like one long building.

Commissioner William Koehler was troubled by the largest building, which would have been used as the applicant’s headquarters. It was the most prominent building and towered over the site, Koehler said. He, too, called for a less intense proposal.

The public hearing was continued to Sept. 2.