Illegal Parking Lot Sales Could Cost Shopping Center in Agoura Hills Its Permit

Claiming merchants are thumbing their noses at them, Agoura Hills city officials have stepped up efforts to revoke the operating permit of a small neighborhood shopping center that stages periodic illegal parking lot sales.

The most recent such sale occurred over the three-day Labor Day weekend in the 30600 block of Canwood Street, attracting large crowds of furniture buyers.

Angry city officials announced Thursday that, at an Oct. 10 Planning Commission meeting, they will seek permission to file for a court injunction to preclude outdoor sales.

In the meantime, the city attorney’s office has been ordered to initiate misdemeanor complaint proceedings against those who staged the weekend sale for violation of the center’s permit, city Planning Director Paul Williams said. Conviction could result in a $500 fine and six-month jail sentence.

‘Harassed’ for 4 Years

The city action prompted new complaints that the young bedroom community about 10 miles west of the San Fernando Valley has an anti-business philosophy.

“We’ve been harassed since we opened four years ago,” said Jim Richards, co-owner of Wood & Dreams, whose inventory of oak furniture was moved outside for the weekend sale.

Richards said shopkeepers at the five-store center, which faces the Ventura Freeway, do up to 15% of their yearly business at Memorial Day and Labor Day parking lot sales. He said his store sold $40,000 worth of merchandise during the sale. On a normal three-day weekend, it would ring up sales of about $9,000, he said.

“Without these sales, we might as well board up the store and bid adios,” said Rick Krekorian, another co-owner.

Prohibition in Permit

The ban on outdoor sales was written into the shopping center’s original Los Angeles County conditional-use permit in 1981, more than a year before Agoura residents voted to incorporate to protect their largely rural life style. The right to enforce the conditions was assumed by the city after incorporation.

Since then, according to Williams, illegal holiday-weekend sales have repeatedly been staged at the center.

Bernard Wickman, owner of the 3 1/2-acre site, confirmed Thursday that such sales have been held. He said he has been cited several times for violating terms of the permit. But he stressed that the events are needed to keep merchandise moving.

“They’re going to keep trying until they get us,” said Wickman, whose Reeds and Son furniture store sparked controversy in the neighboring thousand-home Lake Lindero subdivision when it opened eight years ago.

Bulletproof Windows

Wickman was forced to install bulletproof windows when the original glass was shot out by a sniper shortly after the store opened. Later, as he began building the adjoining shopping center, residents persuaded county officials to halt construction while a zoning dispute involving the site was ironed out. After a two-year delay, Wickman was required to redesign the center before starting construction again.

“There are a few people around here who are still bugged by this store being here. They won’t be happy until they see us out of business,” he said Thursday. “We’ll fight. We’re going to stick up for what’s right.”

City officials say homeowners have complained that the parking lot sales cause traffic congestion and are unsightly.

‘Pure and Simple Violation’

On Thursday, City Manager Michael Huse described the weekend parking lot event as a “pure and simple violation” of the center’s use permit.

Huse denied that there is an anti-business bias within the city, which derives $800,000 a year, 29% of its general-fund revenue, from local sales taxes. Wickman’s center generates $7 million in sales a year, according to its merchants.

Huse said the city’s policy is to attempt to work out disputes before citations are issued. He said officials meet monthly with Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce leaders in an effort to improve communication between the city and businessmen.

Newly elected chamber president Wayne Adelstein said his group plans to study the issue of parking lot sales before next month’s commission hearing.

‘Trying to Balance Needs’

“I believe in giving people the benefit of a doubt,” Adelstein said Thursday. “I don’t believe the city is anti-business. I think it’s trying to balance the needs of a growing community. Maybe there’s a lack of understanding of the needs of the business community.”

Mayor John Hood said that “in some cases, they’re right--the attitude of the city, in some cases, is anti-business.”

Hood, who helped win council approval two months ago of an industrial park that was opposed by homeowners but supported by merchants, said city leaders “sometimes lose sight of what we’re doing.”

He said he supports a change in city rules that would allow parking lot sales but that, until then, merchants should obey the law.