AGOURA HILLS : Eatery’s Closed Play Area to Be Discussed

Agoura Hills officials will meet Thursday with a representative of Carl’s Jr. to discuss steps the fast-food restaurant must take to reopen its play area.

The city ordered the facility closed after discovering about two weeks ago that the play area had been modified without the needed permits, city officials said.

The closing set off a furor among restaurant patrons, who complained that children were losing a favorite play area. About 300 patrons signed petitions urging the city to reopen the facility.

Dave Anderson, Agoura Hills’ community development director, said Carl’s Jr. has agreed to begin the formal application process for the play area. Meanwhile, he said, the facility will be closed indefinitely until the application issue is resolved.

“We’ve been working with Carl’s Jr.,” he said. “And they are being very cooperative.”

Some restaurant patrons and workers said earlier this week that they believe the city closed the play area because it was unhappy with its bright colors--purple and green--because they do not blend in with surrounding businesses.

Anderson said the colors are not the issue and that, in any case, they can easily be changed.

The issue has brought new public relations headaches to the city, which is already battling a perception that it is anti-business. Barbara Murphy, leader of an effort to recall the entire five-member City Council, said the city’s actions in the matter are evidence of its inflexibility in dealing with the business community.

Larry Young, who handles real estate issues for Carl’s Jr., will represent the restaurant at Thursday’s meeting. “We agree that we need permission, and that’s what we are going to try to (obtain),” he said.

The restaurant, near the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Kanan Road, obtained a city a permit for play equipment in 1989, and it was installed about a year later.

Anderson said the restaurant operators approached city officials about 10 months ago to talk about replacing the outmoded equipment with a more modern, self-enclosed play area.

“At that meeting, we talked about what the process was they needed to go through,” said Anderson. That included, he said, an application to modify the original permit.

“They were going to come back with the proper applications for permits and then they would build it,” Anderson said.

But, he said, the city never heard back from the restaurant.

Young said Carl’s Jr. did not seek a permit for the new equipment because it believed that a permit was not needed.

Carl’s Jr. wanted to get the new equipment in as soon as possible because the old equipment was unsafe and had caused several injuries, Young said.

Anderson said it makes no sense to allow the restaurant to reopen the play area because the city might require it to modify the equipment.

“If they are going to change the equipment, it wouldn’t be practical for them to open it up,” he said.