Lowe’s gets the axe in Westlake

PATRICK SHELBY/Acorn Newspapers PUBLIC INPUT—Brad Halpern of Westlake Village stands outside a crowded city hall at last week’s city council meeting as the pros and cons of the Lowe’s development are discussed. After more than a year of meetings, scoping sessions, town hall discussions and volumes of environmental and economic analysis, the 227,000-squarefoot Lowe’s development was voted down by the Westlake Village City Council by a 2-2 vote last week at city hall. One council member had recused himself. The project needed a majority vote to pass.

In the end, it was the size of the development that mattered.

The final public hearing took nearly nine hours over two nights before the council made its decision. Council members Mark Rutherford and Philippa Klessig both voted in favor of the development, while Mayor Pro Tem Jim Bruno and Mayor Susan McSweeney voted against. Councilmember Bob Slavin did not vote because he owns office property that presented a possible conflict of interest.

Because Bruno has been an outspoken opponent of Lowe’s since the first meetings nearly a year ago, the three remaining council members were needed to give the project its required majority.

McSweeney’s “no” vote ended any chance for Lowe’s to be built on the vacant lot behind Costco.

“I have been very concerned about the size of the Lowe’s portion of the project,” McSweeney said. “It is a very well-run business; however, I think when we look at the future, we really have to think what would happen if that was no longer Lowe’s. What we would have is a very large building that I’m not sure we would have very much control over what would come there.”

The $45-million development would have included a 168,000square-foot Lowe’s hardware store slated for a 22-acre lot on Russell Ranch Road in Westlake Village just north of the 101 Freeway.

In addition to the hardware store, Rotkin Real Estate Group had submitted plans to develop 62,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the property, as well as a 20,000-square-foot high-end car dealership.

“We want to have a town center, but we didn’t perceive this particular proposal as really being a town center,” Bruno said. “It was a Lowe’s, and the restaurants were kind of the Trojan horse to get to the Lowe’s. I’m holding out hope that someday we will have something that is more conducive to family recreation.”

Proponents not happy

Charles Rotkin, the project’s lead developer, said he was disappointed with the decision. “But I respect the process the city went through. They make the decisions, and we did our best,” Rotkin said.

The land is zoned for a 376,000-square-foot office complex, and it’s likely plans to build a four-story office building will be submitted to the city before fall 2006.

Both Rutherford and Klessig said they were frustrated with the final outcome.

“I’m pretty upset right now, but when I wake up they’re still my friends,” Klessig said after the meeting. “This was not a critical issue, no matter how it was portrayed. We could live with the development. We could live without it. I think it would have been better with.”

Rutherford said that although the vote has “strained relations” on the council, he doesn’t think the damage will be permanent.

The development has been the focus of intense debate between the Lowe’s developers and local business owners who feared the giant hardware store would create too much traffic and negatively impact smaller businesses. Competition breathes easier

As part of the environmental impact report, financial consulting firm CB Richard wrote a report that took into account all the hardware stores in the Conejo Valley, as well as stores in West Hills, Calabasas, Moorpark and Simi Valley.

According to the report, there are 16 competing stores, including two Home Depots, another Lowe’s, three Do-it Centers and two Sears stores.

Although the report found that Lowe’s would not be economically detrimental to the area, Jess Ruf, owner of two local Do-it Centers and a leading Lowe’s opponent, said the analysis was flawed because it included stores in Calabasas and the San Fernando Valley.

“People in Calabasas don’t shop in this area for hardware,” Ruf said. “They’re going into the San Fernando Valley, not coming to Westlake.”

Ruf said if Lowe’s had come into the Conejo Valley, he may have been forced to close his stores in Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks.

“I’m happy with the decision,” Ruf said.

In 2002, Ruf helped lead and finance a similar grassroots campaign to keep Home Depot from being built in Agoura Hills.