Community Center celebrates 20 years




SERVING MANY—The Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center opened its doors in 1999. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

SERVING MANY—The Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center opened its doors in 1999. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

A community center can be a focal point in town. For parents, it’s a safe place for their kids to hang out. For fitness seekers, there are basketball courts and workout classes. In times of emergency, it can be a place to seek shelter.

The Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center has been providing all that and more for not one, but two cities since 1999. On Dec. 12, the facility on Malibu Hills Road will celebrate its anniversary with an open house, which will introduce visitors to the center and showcase what it has to offer.

Brianne Anderson, the community center’s executive director, said employees will give tours of and ask visitors to offer suggestions on how the facility can move forward.

“We’re involving the community by having a wish wall, which is basically a giant paper where people can share their wishes for the next 20 years for the center, which we can use for setting our goals with the joint powers authority board,” Anderson said. “It will let us see what people are really wanting and help make that happen for them. Will we be able to do everything? Unfortunately, no, but we will be able to find the direction where people want us to continue to grow and offer things to our community.”

Anderson came on as the executive director in September as a replacement for longtime director Annemarie Flaherty, who left the position last April.

“I have a background in events, so for me, putting together something to honor the special, unique spirit of our center, which I have gotten experience in those 2½ months—the members that are here love being here, they show it every day when you see them in the hallway, when you’re taking a class with them,” Anderson said.

“We even have a couple of our members who have been able to lose a lot of weight or who’ve had meaningful experiences at the center; they’re going to be speaking. We’ve been able to involve our members, which is really a big part of what we do, and involved the public in coming to this,” said the director.

The center is jointly owned by the cities of Agoura Hills and Calabasas, and operated by a joint powers authority board made up of members from both cities.

The land where it was built was given to the cities by Los Angeles County for the sole purpose of becoming a community center.

Construction on the 30,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building started in 1997.

Calabasas City Councilmember James Bozajian, who has served on the joint powers board since the facility opened, said that when the community center was completed, staff and board members immediately noticed problems.

“They ranged from the foundation to the roof, literally. There were all types of defects. We had a big lawsuit against the construction company,” Bozajian said. “The lawsuit was settled; we got a bunch of money to fix the center. There have been patchwork renovations, and right now we’re undertaking probably the largest renovation, which is replacing the roof.”

The roof replacement is expected to start next year.

Bozajian said he and other board members have worked hard to help the facility grow since it opened its doors 20 years ago.

That work has paid off. Bozajian said city contributions toward operating expenses are minimal.

“We did a strategic planning session a few years ago and learned of all the similar facilities in California. We get more money coming in percentage-wise than just about anybody. Most community centers rely heavily on the city; they take in very little money,” Bozajian said. “We almost make ends meet on our own without any subsidies.”

The center brings in revenue through gym memberships, classes and facility rentals. It even has a rock-climbing wall.

The anniversary celebration is 5 to 8 p.m. on Thurs., Dec. 12.