Residents Hear Plans for Development

Nearly 300 people attended a Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission hearing for a development proposed on what area residents call “Fire Station Hill,” a parcel west of Las Virgenes Road where developers want to build a shopping center and condominiums.

The meeting Tuesday night at Calabasas High School was restricted to hearing opposition to the project, but about a quarter of the audience indicated support.

The opposition urged the commission to deny the request or suggest the developer alter the project, which requires several permits because it does not conform to county zoning plans for the area.

“Wouldn’t it be refreshing to consider a project that was compatible with the General Plan in the first place?” resident Les Hardy asked the commissioners. “A lot of energy, talent and work went into that General Plan. It’s not to be taken lightly.”

The La Strada Calabasas project, planned for the site north of the Ventura Freeway and west of the Las Virgenes interchange, would include 136 condominiums and 280,000 square feet of commercial space with a grocery store and a multiscreen movie theater.

Representatives from the city of Calabasas--whose City Hall is within yards of the site--spoke against the size of the project, and many speakers questioned the traffic and geological studies in the developer’s draft environmental impact report.

Some residents and several environmental groups, including Save Open Space and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, lamented the potential loss for the freeway’s scenic corridor.

Developer Robert Zuckerman said the project would not adversely affect the view from the freeway, and that his company stands by the draft EIR.

Since the project has undergone several drastic changes since it was initially proposed in 1990, Continental Communities has conducted many geo-technical studies of the site, he said.

“If the county says there are more necessary, we will do them,” he said. “But we have a great deal of confidence in our geologists.”