Agoura Hills City Council Trades Park for 10-Acre Parcel

The Agoura Hills City Council voted Wednesday to trade a city park for a larger, undeveloped piece of land that officials want to turn into a park. The developer has an option to buy the 10-acre site and could have built up to 16 homes on it.

The five-member council approved the swap unanimously and with little comment.

When the plan was unveiled in January, council members said the deal would allow the city to obtain a valuable piece of future parkland from a developer.

The city will give up the 2.7-acre Agoura Park, located on the west side of Chesebro Road, south of Driver Avenue. It includes a baseball field, playground, basketball court and buildings for recreation and crafts.

Chesebro Development Group plans to build 60 condominiums on the park site. City officials say that use is consistent with neighboring land. The developer will give the city 10 undeveloped acres nearby, at the northwest corner of Chesebro Road and Driver Avenue.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Jess Thomas, an Old Agoura Homeowners Assn. representative, said the group’s leaders recently voted unanimously to support the park trade.

City officials said it could take three years and $1.1 million to develop the park site with ball fields, a recreation building and an equestrian staging area. The city has no plan to fund the project, but officials said some money could come from the state.

The City Council’s vote to approve the land swap does not constitute approval of construction of 60 condominiums at Agoura Park. The developer must apply for that approval. If the city ultimately denies the developer permission to build the condominiums, the land swap would be voided and ownership of Agoura Park would revert to the city.

Both parks are in the vicinity of the city’s semi-rural Old Agoura neighborhood.