Lowe’s still not resolved

A final resolution denying the proposed Lowe’s home improvement center in Westlake Village failed to gain a majority vote at the city council’s Jan. 25 meeting, leaving the controversial project in temporary limbo.

Mayor Sue McSweeney and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Bruno voted in favor of the resolution denying the Lowe’s project, while Council-members Mark Rutherford and Phillipa Klessig voted against it.

With only four council members voting—Bob Slavin had earlier recused himself from the discussion—the Lowe’s development has neither been officially approved nor denied.

The council had earlier failed to get a majority vote on rezoning the Lowe’s property.

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

Although Lowe’s and Charles Rotkin, the project’s developer, have the opportunity to apply for a revised project, that scenario is unlikely to occur, city officials said.

“Mayor McSweeney and Mayor Pro Tem Bruno have already expressed the fact that they are not interested in a big box project and this has most likely already registered with the Lowe’s representatives,” said Scott Wolfe, a senior planner for Westlake Village.

Addressing a concern raised by McSweeney at the Jan. 19 meeting when city council voted 2-2 against rezoning the site to allow for the big box construction, Lowe’s representative Bart Hollander promised that the retailer would remove the building if the company ever decided to leave Westlake Village. Despite the concession, McSweeney still voted to oppose Lowe’s.

According to Hollander, Lowe’s and Rotkin have received an unprecedented number of calls from office developers interested in acquiring the property and building the 376,000 square feet of office space for which the site is zoned.