Moratorium in Agoura Hills Halts All New Construction

An emergency moratorium on new construction in Agoura Hills took effect Wednesday as the City Council’s slow-growth-minded majority flexed its muscles for the first time.

The six-month ban on new building permits will give the young city time to draw up a zoning ordinance that will clamp permanent controls on development, officials said.

“We became a city because people wanted control,” Mayor Vicky Leary said. “I think we’ve been a little out of control. It’s time to pull back a little.”

Council members authorized the moratorium Tuesday night in a 4-1 vote. The ban carried an “urgency” status that allowed it to become effective Wednesday morning.

Tough New Stance

It also signaled a tough new stance on development by City Council members who were swept into office last November. Ousted in that election was Agoura Hills’ pro-growth mayor, John Hood.

“Our house needs to be put in order,” new Councilman Jack W. Koenig said Tuesday. “One of my biggest surprises in taking office was to find out that things are as bad as I said they were in my campaign. There was no hyperbole.”

Last month, Koenig and other council members appointed new planning commissioners who are expected to mirror their stance. The commission will work on the permanent city zoning ordinance during the moratorium, which will be lifted early if the zoning work takes less than six months, council members said.

Officials said commissioners need breathing room because they have recently handled up to five new development requests a meeting. The workload has caused some of the twice-monthly planning meetings to last until 1 a.m.

‘Popular Place to Build’

“It’s a popular place to build,” Councilwoman Fran Pavley said. “The applications have literally rolled in. We can’t go full speed ahead.”

Since Agoura Hills’ Dec. 8, 1982, incorporation, construction projects worth $182.6 million have been approved in the city. About $113 million worth of projects were started in 1985, according to Los Angeles County Department of Public Works administrators who are contracted to handle building permits for the city.

Agoura Hills’ concern over rapid development is shared by several nearby communities. Voters have approved growth limits in Thousand Oaks and will consider the same in Moorpark, and a moratorium on certain types of building was approved last October by Simi Valley City Council.

After incorporation, Agoura Hills officials enacted an 11-month building moratorium in 1983-84 in order to set planning goals for the city. Thirty projects were exempted from that moratorium by the City Council, however.

Exemption Pleas Ignored

Before Tuesday’s moratorium vote, several landowners and developers pleaded for exemptions from the new building ban. But council members said no waivers will be issued this time.

Others landowners warned that a moratorium would scare builders away from the city. Several said it also might cause developers to pull out of assessment districts formed to finance street improvements.

But homeowner Robert Uebersax, a moratorium supporter, dismissed the threats.

“We’re rapidly reaching the point where we’re going to close the barn doors and the horses are going to be long gone and the pasture chewed up,” he said.