Coffee store debate stirs fear about city’s oak trees

Planners deny drive-thru lane at Agoura Hills Starbucks



ROAD BLOCK—The planning commissioners felt the Starbucks remodeling and additional drive-thru lane on Kanan Road might have been a death knell for this more than 200-year-old oak tree, a favorite of the city. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

ROAD BLOCK—The planning commissioners felt the Starbucks remodeling and additional drive-thru lane on Kanan Road might have been a death knell for this more than 200-year-old oak tree, a favorite of the city. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

The Agoura Hills Planning Commission voted unanimously June 20 to deny a drive-thru lane at the Starbucks coffee store in the Twin Oaks shopping center on Kanan Road.

Two dozen people at the meeting spoke out against the project and objected to the removal of several oak trees and the damage to others that the new construction might have caused.

The project called for the existing 1,570-square-foot store at 5827 Kanan Road to be demolished and replaced with a new 2,240-square-foot building—with a drive-thru lane.

Three valley oak trees would have been removed to make room for the new one-story building and reconfigured parking lot, and a more than 200-year-old heritage oak tree would have faced 52% encroachment, a statistic that read like a death sentence to the worried crowd.

Patrick Conway, vice president of Regency Centers, which manages the Twin Oaks mall, said the renovated Starbucks would add to the economic vitality of the recently remodeled center.

OPPONENTS—Mary Wiesbrock and Janna Orkney demonstrate. The building, above right, would be rebuilt and a drive-thru lane added.

OPPONENTS—Mary Wiesbrock and Janna Orkney demonstrate. The building, above right, would be rebuilt and a drive-thru lane added.

“We want to keep Starbucks as our tenant and make sure that they’re here for the long haul,” he said. “Drive-thrus are a big priority for Starbucks.”

Oak Park resident Janna Orkney worried about having more traffic on Kanan Road.

“Even adding one more car in the morning drive is too much,” Orkney said.

Robert Weinstein asked if Starbucks could submit an alter- native plan that doesn’t “harm the trees,” and added that the increased traffic would be an “accident waiting to happen with students.”

Agoura resident Pat MacGregor protested against the builder trying to skirt the city’s oak tree ordinance.

“Please turn your heads,” MacGregor suggested to the commissioners on the dais. “The original (city) seal was a whole oak tree. Now it’s a leaf.”

“There is an oak leaf above you, not a coffee cup,” former Agoura Hills mayor Jack Koenig said.

Joan Yacovone, another former mayor, accused the city of failing to honor its tree ordinance.

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo

“Either give up the pretense or live up to it,” she said.

Yacovone was in favor of remodeling the building with new outdoor seating, but she objected to the drive-thru.

Kate Anderson, vice chair of the planning commission, asked if the proposed 14-car drive-thru would be enough to accommodate the large number of Agoura High School students who often come to the store before school starts. Lindsay Cabral, Regency senior property manager, said it would.

After the public testimony, Conway rebutted the contention that adding a drive-thru lane would create an undue amount of additional traffic.

Anderson said the traffic assessment didn’t consider the car and pedestrian traffic generated by the Agoura High students.

During deliberations, Commissioner Michael Justice said the city must be the “steward of the general plan.”

“As much as I want businesses to grow and prosper, we have to remember what we’re giving up,” Justice said. “There are two insurmountable problems—oak trees and traffic. We’ve never been asked to remove oak trees of this stature.”

Justice said the developer’s plan included a loophole that could lead to the removal of the large heritage oak.

“That’s a deal-breaker,” he said.

Commissioner Jeremy Wolf said he was concerned with public safety, especially for the students who walk to the center regularly.

“We lost 22,000 oaks and native trees in the (Woolsey) fire,” Wolf said. “I can see the positives for economic vitality, but I don’t believe (a drive-thru lane) contributes to quality of life.”

Commissioner Murtaza Mogri said, “Trees are a vital part of this community, and traffic on Kanan is terrible. That tree is really critical to this community. We really need to make sure that the tree survives and it’s healthy.”

Anderson said she is in favor of an improved Starbucks building and encouraged the company to submit an amended application to remodel the coffee store without a drive-thru lane.