WESTLAKE VILLAGE : PriceCostco Foes File Suit to Block Project

Opponents of a planned PriceCostco store in Westlake Village have filed a lawsuit to block the controversial project, which was approved by the City Council last month.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that an environmental impact report for the project is flawed, and asks the city to prepare a new report.

It names as defendants the city of Westlake Village, the City Council, PriceCostco Inc. and Richland Properties Limited, a Florida-based developer.

“We don’t believe this is over by any means,” said Jim Shaw, a member of United Communities Against PriceCostco Inc., which filed the suit. “We’ll take this as far as we have to.”

An amended suit is being prepared that would invalidate permits for the project on the grounds that the City Council denied Westlake Village citizens due process, said Frank Angel, the group’s attorney.

That complaint stems from a packed hearing April 5, during which many people had to watch the proceedings on TV monitors outside the council chambers. The council approved the project in the early morning hours, after a long, stormy hearing, at which many spoke against the project.

PriceCostco officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Mayor Kenneth Rufener disagreed that citizens were denied due process.

“We let everybody into City Hall that the Fire Department will allow in,” he said. “We didn’t exclude anybody.”

PriceCostco wants to build a 136,000- square-foot store as part of a 296,000- square-foot shopping center at Lindero Canyon Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard. It is part of the Westlake North Specific Plan, approved in 1989, which allows for 1.4 million square feet of office, business park and commercial uses, as well as condominiums, on a 130-acre tract near the Ventura Freeway.

Opponents say the establishment will increase traffic, noise and crime.

City officials say Westlake Village is legally bound to approve the project because of a development agreement that requires the city to pay up to $3 million in damages if it fails to abide by the agreement.

Supporters say the store will generate $1 million annually in sales tax revenue, provide about 200 jobs paying about $30,000 a year, and make it unnecessary for residents to commute to its other stores in the San Fernando Valley and Oxnard.