Traffic, Cost Fears : Agoura Hills OKs Street Extension Despite Protests

The Agoura Hills City Council has decreed that a dead-end street will be extended, despite vociferous protests from nearby homeowners and more than half of the landowners who must pay the cost.

At a standing-room-only meeting that lasted until midnight Tuesday because of the debate, the council unanimously approved a $4-million extension of Canwood Street from Derry Avenue to Chesebro Road.

Angry residents of Old Agoura, the oldest part of the city, had fought the extension, contending it will funnel streams of commercial traffic from the freeway into their quiet neighborhood.

The council sought to appease disgruntled residents by forming a committee of citizens and council members to study steps to minimize traffic problems in the area. Emotions ran high anyway, as some residents threatened to file lawsuits and accused the council of being unresponsive.

Concern for Children, Horseback Riders

“The people of Agoura Hills voted you people in, not the developers,” said Old Agoura resident Wayne Moore, to heavy applause.

The most vocal opponents of the plan, members of the Old Agoura Homeowners Assn., said horseback riders and children from two nearby schools will be endangered by increased traffic on Driver Avenue and Chesebro Road. The road extension will cause “horses to be intermixed with Mack trucks,” said Serena M. Friedman.

“Traffic can’t go that way or people are going to die,” said Barry Sobel, an Old Agoura resident. “That is suicide to those kids. It’s murder and it will result in death. I think you’re up for a hell of a lawsuit.”

City officials say the extension is needed to prevent traffic from clogging Canwood Street, a fast-growing commercial zone paralleling the northern side of the Ventura Freeway. Because the street comes to a dead end, it is accessible only to traffic from the west, off Kanan Road, or by a circuitous route through the Old Agoura neighborhood. Extending the street will allow motorists to reach the area from Chesebro Road to the east.

The owners of 16 parcels of land along the extension will be assessed varying amounts to pay for the project.

The largest assessment, $1.2 million, is to be paid by the Sheraton Corp., which is building a 150-room hotel at Canwood Street and Derry Avenue, where Canwood now ends.

Hotel to Add Traffic

Increases in traffic expected when the hotel opens this fall put pressure on the city to solve the area’s traffic problems, said Felicity Kidd, assistant to the city manager.

Mayor Fran Pavley said the problem was inherited from a past City Council, which approved the Sheraton project in 1985.

“I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one,” said Councilwoman Vicky Leary, before voting for the road extension.

Ron Troncatty, president of the homeowners association, said his group wants Canwood Street made one-way eastbound to reduce back-and-forth driving and channel traffic out of the area.

City Engineer Henry Van Dyke said the city can take steps, such as installing stop signs, to mitigate traffic problems at Driver and Chesebro. But he acknowledged that “it will be a busy intersection.”

Joseph Jenkins, an attorney representing three property owners in the assessment district, said his clients will be forced to sell their property because they cannot afford to pay the assessments.