Panel Approves Park Centre Project Permit

The Calabasas Planning Commission gave developers of the proposed Calabasas Park Centre the first green light to proceed with the retail center.

The commission unanimously approved the project’s master conditional-use permit at its meeting Thursday, setting down guidelines for future development of the property.

Dave Armanetti, vice president of Kilroy Calabasas Associates, said the approval was an important step in the process because even though the developer, the city and the community now agree on what they want built there, this puts it in writing.

“This is the first time in the history of this project that approval has been accompanied by widespread community support,” Armanetti said Monday.

The center was first approved by Los Angeles County as a large commercial and office complex encompassing 67 acres on Calabasas Road between Calabasas Parkway and Park Granada.

The city inherited the project when it incorporated, giving its approval in 1995. But the development has been in limbo since, undergoing review by a community task force.

During that time, the project was scaled down from 1.3 million square feet to no more than 750,000 square feet of retail and office space, including a retail center, a hotel, a civic center and an office complex.

Also, the master conditional-use permit puts a cap on two of the main sticking points with the community: The movie theater can have only six screens, and the impact of traffic on the area can be no more than 15,665 average daily trips.

“All of that combined makes this a very different project from the original,” said Planning Commission Chairman David Brown. “I think we’ve reached a point where people are comfortable with it and even excited about seeing it built.”

The Planning Commission will next see Kilroy’s concept design plan for the project. When that is approved, the design plan and the master conditional-use permit will likely go to the City Council for final approval, Armanetti said.