AGOURA HILLS : Freeway Sound Wall Dispute Resolved

Canwood Street residents have settled a simmering dispute with two area businesses over the planned construction of a sound wall along the Ventura Freeway.

“It’s not what we wanted, but it was a compromise,” said Tom Schlender, owner of one of the businesses, Warehouse Discount Center, on Friday. “We’ll live with it.”

Neighborhood residents began lobbying for the wall in 1985, when a truck and a car careened off the freeway and plowed through a chain-link fence, nearly hitting a neighborhood resident.

The residents began collecting noise readings and accident reports, and they enlisted help from local politicians.

But the two business owners, fearing the barrier would make their businesses hard to see from the freeway, insisted on a 500-foot opening in the wall near their establishments. The residents insisted on limiting the opening to 350 feet, saying a larger opening would defeat the purpose.

The two sides failed to reach a compromise during a stormy meeting three weeks ago, said Mayor Joan Yacovone. She said representatives from both sides continued meeting until they reached the compromise Wednesday at City Hall.

They ended up agreeing that the opening would be 400 feet.

“Emotions were running very high three weeks ago,” said Yacovone. “It’s very nice to see them be able to work together.”

Gary Roller, a transportation engineer for Caltrans, said Friday that construction on the 16-foot-high wall is expected to begin next April. Preliminary estimates place the cost at $800,000, he said.

The city will have to help pay for the wall, under an agreement with Caltrans, he said.