Vocal Calabasas residents are speaking out against what they believe is the latest threat to the city’s rural ambience: West Village.
The commercial and residential development, which was scheduled to go before the city’s planning commission this week, calls for 180 condos and a 5,800-square-foot retail center on a 77-acre lot at Las Virgenes and Agoura roads in west Calabasas. Low-income families will have access to 18 of the condos.
The developer, New Home Company, has submitted a draft of the environmental impact report for the project.
About 100 people gathered June 19 at Church in the Canyon on Las Virgenes Road, less than a mile from where West Village will be built, for a meeting hosted by the Calabasas Coalition, a development watchdog group that has expressed concern about the new construction.
“People are upset over the mass and the density of (the project),” said Joanne Suwara, a founding member of the coalition. “A big part of the discussion was the Woolsey fire. They’re saying buildings are the new fuel, (especially) if you’re building up against open space like the development is.
“There’s also a lot of empty commercial property on this side of town. Is it really feasible that they’ll grade the heck out of the hills and then put up something that there’s no market for?” she asked.
She said there were concerns that developing such a dense housing complex so close to the freeway would create a fire hazard that would force the thoroughfare to be closed in an emergency, leaving area residents to use smaller one- or twolane roads to escape the danger, as they did during the Woolsey fire when the flames jumped the freeway.
The projected impact to the environment is also a concern.
An open letter from Monte Nido resident Stephanie Abronson to the residents of Calabasas said the city is breaking a promise to leave certain lands as open space, and developing the West Village will “slowly, cruelly” destroy the animals that are left in the area.
“The open space that is left for our heritage trees, springs and streams where the wild (animals) drink is critical to our ecology. This open space is a buffer of nature meant to salve our souls,” Abronson’s letter says. “The Las Virgenes Scenic Corridor is quietly losing more and more to development, and quietly filling the coffers of Calabasas.”
As it stands, the project calls for the hillsides to be graded— 2.6-million cubic yards of dirt would have to be moved to stabilize an ancient landslide on the property and ensure the buildings wouldn’t be buried. An environmental report states that the grading is expected to start in October and last up to two years.
Abronson’s letter says that by grading the hillsides the city would impact the environment all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The artificial slopes would have high clay content that would cause the rainwater to run off rather than soak into the soil.
“ Clay and water make a heavy sludge that will flow into the tributaries that end in Las Virgenes Creek . . . and make its way to the Santa Monica Bay,” the letter says.
Another concern is the length of time the grading will take before construction can even start.
West Village’s 2.8-million cubic yards of dirt is 10 times as much as what had to be moved for the Paxton residential homes, less than a mile away from the site and also on Las Virgenes Road, which took about four years, Suwara said.
“If Paxton took four years, what on earth are we going to be putting up with here with 10 times as much grading,” she said.
She said the construction equipment entering and exiting the property, which neighbors an on-ramp to the 101 Freeway, will aggravate an already congested traffic situation as well.
“They’re going to be trying to mitigate some of the traffic by adding a lane, but the lane they’re adding for the project is going to feed onto the freeway,” Suwara said. “If you’re in that shopping center or coming out of that project and you want to go across the overpass going north you have to merge over quickly, otherwise you’re going to be on the freeway. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Opponents to the project have limited options. The land has been bought, and the area is zoned to allow housing and a retail facility.
Matt Blain, the project manager, said he is aware of residents’ concerns about environmental impact and fire safety, and that they have been investigated and will be addressed.
A New Home Company employee attended the Calabasas Coalition meeting on June 19 to take notes on residents’ opinions and concerns. Blain said the grading process isn’t about removing earth, but rather balancing what’s there.
“We’re not looking at a large export or infill of any soil. We’re trying to make it balance. The complicated factor is that there is a landslide and that’s what we’re proposing to remediate, to essentially fix,” Blain said. “(This) plan meets the General Plan and city’s design of that General Plan, so going through the (California Environmental Quality Act) process will help mitigate any of the potential concerns or issues.”
Suwara said the goal is not to stop the West Village from being built but to push the city to build a more sensible development in the area.
“They’re talking about moving the landslide specifically just to put in building pads. There is an alternative in the final EIR for a project where they don’t disturb the landslide, and it’s a smaller footprint and a smaller environmental impact,” Suwara said.
“What we’re looking for is something smaller with less environmental impact. We know they’re going to build there, that’s not the question, but some sort of responsible development rather than going for the max just to put in as much as they can.”