Former council woman speaks out on Lowe’s

As many of you know, I no longer live in Westlake Village, but at Sun Lakes Country Club in Banning, the San Gorgonio Pass area. I still receive The Acorn each week and have been reading, with great interest, the pros and cons of a Lowe’s development just north of the 101 freeway. My thoughts on the project:

There is an over-development of office buildings in the area. Westlake Village has another office building awaiting approval and Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks have many others. How can the community or businesses support so many offices?

You have a chance here to bring needed services and wonderful restaurants to Westlake Village and surrounding areas. Hasn’t the community been longing for these? By the way, I was elected to city council in the Costco days. How many people now are grateful for, and use, Costco?

I have heard that the public would like to have a park in that area. I was on the city council when a park was proposed in that same area, along with residential development where business offices are now located. The public was very adamant in its opposition to this use. They did not think their children should be playing along major power lines or near a freeway where smog and gasses are a problem. This was a major deterrent in approving a housing project.

Traffic—this is the major problem. However, the commercial use of this project will cause less traffic overall. Office buildings have major peak traffic hours, morning and evening. This could cause gridlock on Lindero Canyon Boulevard when people are going to or returning from work. A use such as Lowe’s could relieve this traffic gridlock as, like Costco, the uses vary and are especially busy on the weekends.

Please support the Westlake Village City Council as it makes this very difficult decision. You elected them because you believed they would have the wisdom and information available to them to do this. Betty De Santis Banning, Calif.