Challenger wants to preserve city’s values

Acorn Staff Writer


Bob Wachs

Bob Wachs

After living here for 16 years, Bob Wachs said he’s convinced Agoura Hills is "the best little city in Southern California."


Now he wants to keep it that way.


Wachs, 57, is running for the Agoura Hills City Council. He’s one of eight candidates on the ballot competing for three open seats in the Nov. 6 race.


Wachs intended to run for the council in 1997, but withdrew at the last minute when his wife came down with an illness. He’s running again with the hopes of winning.


"I really believe from the day I got here I never wanted to live anywhere else, and when you love something, you tend to get a little selfish about it," Wachs said. "I hate to lose what we have."


Wachs moved to Agoura Hills from New Mexico in 1985 where he built homes. Now he now works as a business consultant. Wachs, a member of the Old Agoura Homeowners’ Association, served on the board’s architectural review committee for seven years.


He’s co-founder of the Agoura 4-H scholarship fund, which has given $15,000 in aid to local students, and is the announcing voice of all the Old Agoura equestrian shows.


He, his wife and three children own 10 horses.


According to Wachs, the city has abandoned its rural architectural roots in favor of too many modern office buildings.


"I would rather see light commercial and retail businesses," Wachs said. "I have a vision of the city and I see it with low rise and I see it with really beautiful little secondary shopping centers. I love the Agoura Village concept."


The proposed village is an area along Agoura Road east of Kanan Road that would have pedestrian-friendly stores, restaurants and shops.


Wachs said he’s anxiously waiting to see what the proposed Home Depot will look like on Agoura Road west of Kanan.


"I don’t have the attitude as some of the candidates do that we can only have businesses here that don’t compete with other businesses because I’m a capitalist and I believe in competition," he said.


"Will [Home Depot] fit into this neighborhood and this city? All the facts aren’t in yet. If they can mitigate the traffic concerns and if they don’t destroy the viewsheds …. They certainly are entitled to make their application and go through the process as any other business."


If the new development along Agoura Road brings too much traffic, Wachs suggested one-way streets might help.


The biggest improvement to traffic will be construction of the new Kanan Road/101 Freeway interchange in 2003. The project will be expensive—more than $22 million— but Wachs thinks the city can afford its share of the cost by issuing bonds.


"I don’t want to sacrifice reserves that we may need desperately in the next few years," Wachs said. "Unfortunately the Kanan interchange serves not only our community, but outside communities and we’re paying the bill."


Wachs also wants to continue fighting the Heschel West Day School, a proposed 750-student Jewish facility in Los Angeles County next to Old Agoura’s eastern border.


He proposes a land swap in which the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would turn the Heschel site into open space in return for its Carpeteria property near Liberty Canyon.


"I’m not anti-development. I’m just for careful development," he said.




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