Agoura approves Kanan Road housing plan

State requirement for 318 new units puts city in a bind



BUILD HERE?—The Agoura Meadows Shopping Center on Kanan is one of the sites eligible for new housing. Acorn file photo

BUILD HERE?—The Agoura Meadows Shopping Center on Kanan is one of the sites eligible for new housing. Acorn file photo

Despite public challenges that could foreshadow legal action, the Agoura Hills City Council approved keeping three Kanan Road shopping centers on a list of properties suitable for multi-unit affordable housing.

Last week’s 4-1 vote approved updates to the city’s general plan and housing element that allow more units in a given space than under the old rules. But that doesn’t mean earthmovers will see action anytime soon. Rather, it’s a procedural move to ensure that the city meets the state’s Oct. 15 deadline to have a certified housing plan in place.

State law requires that each city and county develop a local housing program to meet its so-called fair share of existing and future housing needs for all income groups.

For 2021-29, Agoura Hills was told to plan for 318 total units in the following income groups: 126 very low; 72 low; 55 moderate; and 65 above moderate.

Councilmember Chris Anstead cast the no vote Aug. 10, telling The Acorn, “I prioritized safety and the concerns of our residents over meeting an arbitrary state deadline to submit our housing plan.”

Mayor Deborah Klein Lopez opposed Anstead’s request to remove the shopping center sites in the hope that the remaining locations meet the state’s housing requirements.

Anstead said just 21 of 196 Southern California cities met the certification of their housing element as of this week.

Public outcry has dogged the effort since the shopping centers were included in a list of 20 sites—all but five south of the 101 Freeway—identified as places to put multi-unit housing.

Three sites near Thousand Oaks Boulevard were blasted by numerous residents from the city and Oak Park who said adding hundreds of homes would adversely affect traffic on Kanan Road, a major southbound evacuation route to the 101.

In the event of another Woolsey fire-type calamity, residents of Oak Park, in eastern Ventura County, could see a drive of about an hour to the 101—that’s 10 minutes more than during Woolsey.

The sites at issue and their development possibilities are:

Agoura Meadows: A three-story complex backing up to a CVS pharmacy: 67 units of various sizes, 1,500 square feet of ground floor common area, and 15 new parking spaces.

Twin Oaks: Three stories replacing existing commercial space and a Rite Aid store: 83 units, 4,500 square feet of ground-floor common area, and 33 parking spaces with more in a shared commercial lot.

Agoura City Mall: A three-story complex to replace a two-story commercial building with 47 units, new common outdoor space as well as one dozen new garages and additional parking in a shared commercial lot.

“The intersection at Kanan and T.O. (Boulevard) is a failing intersection,” Anstead said.

An evacuation study, he added, showed that hundreds of more homes at the shopping centers would increase evacuation time by 30% compared to the Woolsey fire.

“That is an unacceptable risk,” Anstead said.

Babak Naficy, a Thousand Oaks attorney representing Save Open Space/Santa Monica Mountains, told the City Council in a letter that evidence shows higher residential density at the sites “may cause significant environmental impacts by increasing the likelihood that (residents) will be injured or die while waiting for emergency services or attempting to flee from wildfires or other disasters.”

Naficy went on to assert that the environmental review certifying the city’s general plan update “does not adequately analyze this potential adverse impact despite the public outcry.” Most speakers opposed the sites’ inclusion on the list because of the danger issues, but a site in Old Agoura also drew complaints over how the new housing there would affect an equestrian evacuation center.

Mary Wiesbrock, Save Open Space founder and chair, urged the council to ask Gov. Gavin Newsom for a deadline extension, noting that numerous Bay Area cities have taken similar steps.

Agoura Hills resident Cindy Larson gave a blistering critique of the action being considered.

“This council doesn’t care that thousands of voters signed petitions against building on the shopping centers,” Larson said.

“This council doesn’t care that accurate, truthful facts were presented to you proving in black and white that you have more than enough room to build on the 17 other sites, including a buffer you may need that if one or two sites don’t work out the state gives you six more months to find others.

“Why are you willing to put financial gain ahead of human lives?” Larson said.

But longtime community leader and former mayor Ed Corridori defended the city.

“You’ve been dealt a hand by the state of California and you’ve done the best you could possibly do with it,” he said. ”

Corridori said the shopping center sites have been zoned for commercial and residential development for at least a decade. He challenged the contention by some that more than 500 units could be split among the locations, saying a number that high would mean no commercial use.

Counci lmember Linda Northrup pointed out that all five council members approved the list, including the shopping centers, when it first came before the body.

“I appreciate the emotion,” she said. “But at the same time, I need to do what’s in the best interest of all of the people in this city.”

She suggested that emotion be directed at the lawmakers in Sacramento from densely populated areas who are shoving their housing policies down the throats of more rural areas.

“They don’t care that Agoura Hills is two-thirds High Fire Hazard Severity Zone,” Northrup said. “They don’t care about our oak trees; they don’t care about our views.” (See related story on Page 2.)

Addressing the Oak Park concerns, Councilmember Illece Buckley Weber said that while residents there had five other routes to get out, 59% chose Kanan Road. A similar percentage of residents in the Santa Monica Mountains south of the freeway chose to evacuate north via Kanan, she added, despite there being four alternatives.

“Education is key,” she said. “We’re going to learn different evacuation routes. We’re going to set up blockades, people telling you which way to evacuate.”

What about widening Kanan and removing the landscaped medians to allow more traffic lanes?

“As long as I’m on the council I will fight hard against that.”

Councilmember Denis Weber echoed some of Buckley Weber’s comments, likening the vote to a “hold your nose moment.”

“I am so upset at the people in Sacramento and the things they devise, the things they want to impose on us,” Weber said.

Mayor Lopez said balanced, high-quality development is good, and that city officials have fought to keep Agoura Hills’ character in check by ensuring new development doesn’t happen too close to streets; by capping the height on new buildings; by protecting oak trees; and by keeping a say over the construction materials and colors that builders are allowed to use.

“We are protecting our character while still staying in compliance with the state,” Lopez said.