Council keeps eye on city's interest, but developer remains frustrated

A stalemate among three Agoura Hills City Council members has sent a developer back to the drawing board-again.

Riopharm USA, Inc. has been working since last year on a housing development proposal that would meet the guidelines of the city's planning commission. The panel rejected the project four times before the developer appealed to the council in February to overturn the commission's decision.

Council members wanted further design changes, and continued the public hearing several times during following months.

The developer returned to the City Council last week, hoping the plan revisions would prompt the council to overturn the planning commission decision denying the project. The Agoura Hills development is situated on two tracts of land south of Agoura Road, east of Calle Montecillo and west of Liberty Canyon Road.

The project was reduced in scope several times-from 28 homes, to 27, to its current configuration of 25, mostly single-story homes, a few with basements.

City Council members had asked the developer to make several changes to the project, from scaling down the size of the homes and creating larger setbacks from the street to saving more oak trees and reconfiguring garages. The height of retaining walls was also lowered.

Councilmembers Bill Koehler and Harry Schwarz abstained from both public hearings since they had served on the commission when the project was first turned down.

Developer Charles Cohen and architect Yairi Koshet presented a second proposal outlining further design changes to the Council last week.

"We believe that we have fully achieved compliance that satisfies all developer standards in the zone," Cohen said.

With the landscaping and the shared lawn areas in the center of the project, Cohen said the development offers a "semirural look." The homes range in size from 2,529 to 4,145 square feet, not counting the garages.

In the first tract, the number of homes was reduced by two, but all of the homes were set farther back from the street to meet city requirements. Six, two-story homes were redesigned as one-story dwellings, "thereby significantly reducing the massing concerns raised by the City Council," Cohen said.

Koshet described the architectural styling, which includes trellises, benches and "meandering walkways."

"We tried to create an interactive community," Koshet said.

Joan Yacovone, a former mayor of Agoura Hills, was pleased with the reduced number of homes, but said the front landscaping encroached on the public right of way. She was also critical of the number of oak trees identified for removal-33 in all.

Yacovone said the city has always been strict with individual homeowners who wanted to remove oaks, and should therefore apply the same standards to developers.

"It's kind of two-faced," Yacovone said.

According to City Attorney Craig Steele, the site is "unique" since the lots were recorded so long ago.

Agoura Hills resident Rudy C'Dealva applauded the developer's changes, but was critical of the project's density and susceptibility to flooding and the lack of effort made to save more oaks.

Cohen defended the need to remove the trees and said that he has committed to plant between 150 and 200 new oak trees in the city.

At last week's City Council meeting, Mayor Denis Weber, Mayor Pro Tem Dan Kuperberg and Councilmember John Edelston came to separate conclusions after hearing details of the revamped project.

Edelston was pleased the developer had reduced the scope of the project by 25 percent, but he still had concerns with some design, landscaping and engineering elements.

"We have to make sure Agoura Road doesn't become a flood zone."

Kuperberg said the developer didn't make enough improvements in the areas that concern him most.

"Density is the No. 1 issue for me," Kuperberg said. "These homes, as proposed, are not compatible with the neighborhood."

Weber approved of the project. He said the developer could have chosen "cluster housing" but didn't. "No revisions are required by staff," he said.

"I think it's a far better project," Weber said.

"We are looking for closure this evening," Cohen said when Kuperberg suggested the entire approval process start again with the planning commission. Cohen suggested the Council approve the project with a list of "conditions" in regard to the size of homes, locations of garages and other elements.

"This has been an ordeal for my client," Cohen said. Jack David has owned the land since 1984. Ironically, the property was approved for development by a previous Council. In 1990, the City Council gave the green light for 14 attached townhomes on the most westerly, three-acre tract, but filed a new application to build houses rather than townhomes to be more compatible with neighboring projects.

In 1993, the developer won approval for a subdivision of 14 single homes on the second, 10.5 acre parcel.

The mid-1990s recession forced the developer to allow his building permits to expire, and when Riopharm came back to the city with a new application, officials were more finicky about the project's details.

Kuperberg made a motion to deny the appeal, but Weber and Edelston voted in favor of continuing the public hearing-again, so that the staff could create a list of conditions.

"The applicant has gone a long way to move this project forward," Weber said. "I'd hate to see him start all over."