Planners Give Tentative OK for Las Virgenes Sheriff’s Station

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday tentatively approved a conditional-use permit to build a $10.2-million sheriff’s station to serve the Las Virgenes area.

The station would be built on 6.1 acres in county territory south of the Ventura Freeway interchange at Lost Hills Road, just east of Agoura Hills.

It would serve 100 square miles, including Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village, which contract with the Sheriff’s Department for services, as well as unincorporated areas such as Calabasas.

The Las Virgenes area is served by the sheriff’s station at Malibu, whose more than 100 officers cover about 200 square miles. Deputies serving the area must drive 10 to 30 miles over curving roads through the Santa Monica Mountains to the Malibu station.

The new station would be staffed largely by officers transferred from Malibu.

A final vote by the Planning Commission is scheduled April 6. In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Department will try to work out concerns about where to place a helipad, a 100-foot microwave transmitter tower and a stable for mounted police.

The Currey-Riach Co., which is building a 520-acre industrial, commercial and residential development nearby, has asked sheriff’s officials to move the microwave tower from the front of the station to the back, where it will be less visible, said Tom Riach, company president.

Currey-Riach’s development will include about 1,100 homes and apartments. The homes are about 1,000 feet from the sheriff’s site on the other side of the Ventura Freeway, said Richard Frazier, supervising regional planner for the county. The station site was donated by Currey-Riach in return for an agreement permitting construction of the homes.

Planners have received no complaints about the proposed sheriff’s facility, he said.

To reduce noise from the helipad, the Sheriff’s Department plans to use a new McDonnell-Douglas jet helicopter that is 50% quieter than those used by most departments, said Lt. Jerry Conklin, operations manager for the Malibu station.

“The freeway’s louder than a helicopter,” he said. “I really don’t think the helicopter pad is going to be a significant issue.”

The new station is to include a 30,000-square-foot main building with space for more than 40 prisoners and a 7,000-square-foot service building.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to certify an environmental impact report on the facility next week, Frazier said.

Officials hope it will be open by January, 1990.

The only sheriff’s facility in the area is in a trailer in Grape Arbor Park near the Lost Hills Road interchange with the Ventura Freeway. It is only open afternoons and evenings and has limited facilities.