WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Foes of Proposed Outlet Plan Rally

Opponents of the proposed Price Costco outlet in Westlake Village plan to hold a rally Sunday at the proposed site.

“We don’t want any Price Costco in Westlake Village,” said Frank Abundis, a spokesman for Citizens Against Price Costco. “It would depress the property values and it would ruin the quality of life that we have enjoyed so far.”

The rally is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Lindero Canyon Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Abundis said. The City Council will hold a public hearing on the plan at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

City officials say Westlake Village has no choice but to accept the proposal. Mayor Kenneth Rufener says the city signed a development agreement in 1990 that requires the city to pay up to $3 million in damages if it fails to approve the project, which is allowed under the Westlake North Specific Plan.

Price Costco has proposed a 136,000-square-foot store that would be part of a 296,000-square-foot shopping center. The Westlake North Specific Plan, approved in 1989, allows for 1.4 million square feet of office, business park, commercial uses and condominiums on the 130-acre tract near the Ventura Freeway.

Backers say the Costco outlet would generate up to $1 million annually in sales tax revenues. Foes say the project would disrupt the area’s quality of life by generating 16,000 vehicle trips a day through the neighborhood.