Westlake Village Proposal Faces 1st Public Hearing

A proposal to build 400 apartments and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space in Westlake Village is scheduled to face its first public hearing tonight before the town’s City Council.

The council is not expected to make a decision on the proposal for the development, known as Westlake North, until more hearings are held in November, city Planning Director Robert Theobald said.

But the 7 p.m. hearing at Westlake Village City Hall will offer the public a chance to comment on an environmental impact report. The report said the project, with its two six-story buildings, would significantly alter the “low-profile” character of the city, which has no building taller than two stories.

Westlake Village Associates, a firm run by Daniel K. Ludwig, who developed most of the city, is proposing the development on 131 acres north of the Ventura Freeway and east of Lindero Canyon Road. The project, which would encircle the Valley Oaks Memorial Park cemetery, would include a 250-room, four-story hotel and a 300,000-square-foot shopping center. It would be built over a 10- to 15-year period.

The environmental report, released in April, already has generated a storm of written comment, both from opponents of Westlake North and from its developers, who are arguing that the project is not a major deviation from Westlake Village’s existing general plan.

Some critics, including many residents in neighboring Agoura Hills, have said the six-story buildings would block mountain views.

“It’s an aesthetic nightmare,” said Lawrence Birkner, president of the Lake Lindero Community Assn., which represents an Agoura Hills neighborhood directly east of the project.

Agoura Hills city planners have asked for more details on what the project would look like from Lake Lindero and from the Ventura Freeway, for which Agoura Hills officials are seeking a state “scenic highway” designation.

But Carlton Browne and Co., the developer for Westlake Village Associates, maintains that 10 acres of open space separate the buildings from Lake Lindero and that the tall edifices would be a better visual alternative than a smattering of two-story buildings.

Other opponents, such as the Westlake Canyon Oaks Homeowners Assn., have noted the report’s estimate that the project would generate 31,600 daily traffic trips.

The construction company maintains that developer-financed street improvements would make traffic congestion less severe than it would be without the project.

Westlake North, according to the environmental impact report, exceeds the city’s general plan by 100 apartments and 86,000 square feet of commercial space.

But the development company says the project calls for four more apartments--but slightly less commercial space--than would be allowed by the general plan.