Approval of Measure H raises new questions

Acorn Staff Writer


City officials and private developers are weighing their options in the wake of last week’s Measure H election in Agoura Hills, which blocks Home Depot and other big box retailers greater than 60,000 square feet.


While the future of a Home Depot shopping center on Agoura Road remains uncertain, developer Dan Selleck said he doubts citizens will get their wish for a Commons or Promenade-like development, the two popular Rick Caruso shopping centers in Calabasas and in the Westlake Village portion of Thousand Oaks respectively.


"For any [retailer] who’s in Westlake, our site is probably too close," said Selleck, who still hopes to build his shopping center even though Home Depot is prohibited.


"Anybody who’s in Calabasas, when you look at the Barnes and Noble and the tenant mix at The Commons, you have to rule out those tenants as well."


Selleck said he might look at a smaller scale, mixed-use development including offices on the 11.4-acre Agoura Road site. His previous proposal called for 255,000 square feet of stores and restaurants only.


"I think the difficulty is we already have a lot of representation from most retailers in Westlake and Calabasas," Selleck said. "We’re going to look at all our options and take a fresh look at things … We’re going to talk to everybody, again."


But trading office buildings for big box stores won’t get the city anywhere, according to the Agoura Hills City Council.


"Measure H does nothing to solve our traffic problems," said Ed Corridori, city councilmember. "In fact, it could very well make them much worse. Banning new retail eliminates the revenues needed to improve the Kanan and Reyes Adobe interchanges. When you combine that with the fact that office development is unregulated by [Measure] H and produces more rush hour traffic than retail, we quickly realize that Measure H is not the answer."


Some residents who voted against Measure H weren’t necessarily in favor of Home Depot; they objected to the city council losing its power over planning issues.


"I just think there should be another way to keep out the development we don’t want without doing a blanket limitation like that," said Isis Wong, an Agoura Hills voter.


Officials with Citizens for Responsible Growth (CRG), the group that led the anti-Home Depot movement, said they would support any shopping center—without a big box tenant.


"From the beginning we have been a very big proponent of a town center," said Al Abrams, CRG director. "The city needs a town center. It needs a beautiful place of attractive retail with the focus near the new city hall and library, appropriate retail in conjunction with the environment."


Unlike Agoura Hills, where Home Depot lost by only 107 votes; the city of Mountain View defeated the home improvement chain by a resounding 2-1 margin.


"The local opponents mounted a very effective campaign and really got a lot of attention to their cause," said Kevin Duggan, Mountain View city manager.


The proposed Home Depot would have been less than a mile away from Jess Ruf’s Patio World store along a main thoroughfare in the Silicon Valley city.


Ruf, who also owns the Do-It Center hardware store in Agoura Hills, said one of his Do-It Centers in Hemet, Calif. go out of business four years ago because of Home Depot competition.


He said Measure H has saved his Agoura Hills store.


"There’s plenty of building materials business being done in Agoura Hills, but that gets displaced," said Ruf, a sponsor of Measure H. "[Home Depot] takes that business from the locals and the locals go down. Period."


From Calexico to East Palo Alto, the big-box drama took center stage in last week’s election, and everywhere except Mountain View the voting margin was razor thin. A referendum to allow a 300,000 square-foot Ikea store in East Palo Alto won by just 75 votes, but a zoning change that would allow a Wal-Mart store in the Central Valley community of Reedley narrowly lost.


"These votes tend to remind people that this is a growing movement in the country, we’re not talking about some fringe elements," said Al Norman, founder of a nationwide organization called Sprawl Busters that monitors big box development.


In Calexico, voters approved a measure that overturns certain square footage limitations and opens the door for a new Wal-Mart super-center. The retailer spent a reported $150,000 to make its case heard.


"Calexico is a classic example, and this is true a couple of years ago in Eureka, where a big retailer will put themselves on the ballot because they’re not getting what they wanted," Norman said.


Large retailers frequently tout the economic benefits they provide for communities, but big-box opponents say the negatives of development far outweigh the positives.


With Home Depot defeated, Agoura Hills now must look at other areas of commercial development, Abrams said.


"The city needs to have a much more positive, proactive relationship with businesses and developers who have creative ideas.


"Big boxes are not creative ideas," Abrams said.





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