Agoura Village development would get bold new look

Acorn Staff Writer


Agoura Village development

would get bold new look

Consultants are back at work designing plans for the proposed Agoura Village development in Agoura Hills.


The Agoura Village Specific Plan is a 4-year-old development blueprint that calls for a pedestrian-friendly shopping area with retail stores and restaurants along Agoura Road between Kanan and Cornell roads.


The project went dormant until recently when RRM Design Group, a San Luis Obispo consultant, was hired to make new studies and bring the concept back to life.


RRM also worked on the revitalization of Old Town Calabasas and drew plans for a new village center at the Malibu Civic Center.


Agoura Hills city officials have long had their eye on the Agoura Road commercial zone east of Kanan Road as a possible new town center that would feature not only retail uses, but possible residential sites as well.


City officials and urban planners broached the Agoura Village idea during meetings as far back as 1996. The city council supported the concept of an entertainment corridor that would take advantage of the natural scenery of the area and provide a link to the previously opened Mann Theater shopping center.


"We are taking steps to make the Agoura Village concept a reality," said Agoura Hills Mayor Ed Corridori, a proponent of the plans.


City officials will meet with consultants later this month for more discussions.


"They’re looking at trying to revitalize an area that has great potential, has some challenges and to try to create a vital commercial and mixed-use corridor," said Keith Gurnee, RRM’s principal in charge.


Questions include how to accommodate the existing Whizin’s Shopping Center, a more than 30-year-old structure between Agoura Road and Roadside Drive, and whether or not enough customers would be available to support such a large new project.


One city official said the Agoura Village plan was discussed with several developers, including Westlake Promenade and Calabasas Commons builder Rick Caruso, but that no deal could be reached.


Gurnee thinks the project still has merit.


"We will be going through a battery of key stakeholder interviews that include property holders and including some of these applicants that are trying to explore these mixed-use concepts for the village," Gurnee said.


The new trend in development calls for shopping, dining, entertainment and housing uses all to be placed within walking distance of each other, a sharp contrast to the past when conventional subdivisions, shopping centers and office parks were built geographically apart.


Paseo Colorado in Pasadena opened in September with a fashionable mix of apartment living and retail stores. The "new urbanism" also has sprouted in Hollywood, Burbank and Long Beach.


According to New Urban News, the number of mixed-use projects of 15 acres or more under construction in the United States rose 37 percent from 155 in 2000 to 213 in 2001.


"Some start out as primarily residential and as they gain critical mass will add on some kind of commercial component," said Philip Von Platen, a spokesman for the publication. "Others, like Paseo Colorado for instance, are very intense, mixed-use developments."


Envicom Corp., the original consultant on the project, warned that Agoura Village should reflect the city’s "character" and "quality of life" and not be a "clone" of Pasadena or other communities.


"Agoura Village will offer a unique shopping, dining and entertainment experience where visitors can stroll within a rural European village atmosphere," said the Envicom study.


Citizens for Responsible Growth (CRG), the group promoting the anti-Home Depot referendum in Agoura Hills, said it would like to see Agoura Village developed west of Kanan Road where a new civic center and library already exist.


New urban communities frequently rely on a public building, a renovated landmark or an open-air plaza as their centerpiece.


"We believe that the city lacks a town center and the most appropriate place for a town center—the nucleus of the city—should be right near the city hall and the new library," said Al Abrams, CRG director.


The area west of Kanan, however, is slated for Dan Selleck’s 255,300 square-foot Ladyface Village Center shopping center where Home Depot is the proposed anchor tenant.


City councilmembers have said the large retailer would be a better sales tax producer than a collection of boutique shops.


"The mom and pops, a little rotisserie, or a book and coffee might be nice, but let’s face it, those things do not produce the sales tax that we need," said City Councilman Jeff Reinhardt.


It’s expected that a proposed mixed-use development north of the 101 Freeway on Canwood Street, called Riverwalk, will make headway in the city long before the Ladyface or Agoura Village projects.


The 40-acre Riverwalk, which straddles Medea Creek in the area east of Kanan Road and north of Canwood Street, will have three restaurants, 336 apartments and 95,000 square feet of office space, but no shopping or entertainment, according to the developers.





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