Look Again! : Back to Drawing Board for Agoura Hills Officials

An unfamiliar-looking building prompted a familiar-sounding complaint Monday night when Agoura Hills officials staged a surprise inspection of construction projects in their city.

But the final surprise was on them.

Developers were pulling another fast one, officials grumbled as they looked over the half-built office structure.

Look away five minutes, and builders take advantage of you, they fumed.

Council and commission members, most of whom regard developers warily, made unannounced visits to 10 sites to compare what is being built to the plans they had approved months ago when builders asked for permits.

But the half-built stucco structure on Dorothy Drive didn’t match the architect’s drawing that officials brought along for the comparison.

“This is not what we approved,” Councilman Jack W. Koenig said, pointing to features of the drawing that were missing from the actual building.

“That isn’t there. That isn’t. Neither is that.”

“This sure doesn’t look like we thought it would,” agreed Councilwoman Darlene McBane. The officials talked of making the developer demolish the building.

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Mayor Vicky Leary said after the tour.

The last lesson came Tuesday, however.

Red-faced city officials acknowledged that they took the wrong office building plans with them on the tour.

“We picked up concept renderings by mistake,” city Planning Director Paul Williams said.