Proposed Home Depot Divides Agoura Hills

A proposed Home Depot in Agoura Hills has split the community over whether a big, warehouse-style retailer will forever change the small, rural community.

Developer Dan Selleck is scheduled to complete an environmental report in the next month that will set the final terms to be debated over the benefits and impact of the project.

Opponents argue that building a 225,000-square-foot development near Kanan Road and the Ventura Freeway will exacerbate an already busy gateway to Malibu beaches.

The area is already strained with heavy traffic, and relieving the congestion has been a major local issue, even without the additional traffic that would be generated by a new development.

“It’s contrary to the rural attitude and quality of life that we’ve been trying to protect,” said City Councilman Dan Kuperberg.

“Right now, we’ve got 25,000 car trips per day through that area,” said merchant Al Abrams. “With Home Depot open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and all those trucks making deliveries, we’re talking about a traffic nightmare.”

Although negotiations with the “large specialty retailer” have not been finalized, Home Depot will likely sign on if the project is approved this year.

Selleck would pay for the long-anticipated widening of Agoura Road, a vital thoroughfare that parallels the Ventura Freeway. That and other improvements will cost at least $4 million, according to City Manager Dave Adams.

But traffic is only one of the problems, opponents say. Large retail developments do not fit cities as small as Agoura Hills, which is home to less than 23,000.

“When you bring in a big box, it takes so much business out of the local shops,” said Michael Tuchman, owner of a local hardware store. “The uniqueness of Agoura Hills is that it’s made up of lots of little stores where we know the customers; we’ve seen families grow up. When you walk into Home Depot, is anyone going to know your name?”

Mel Adams’ 35-year-old family business, Agoura Equipment Rentals on Agoura Road, is practically a community fixture, residents say.

“After floods and fires, Mel would tell residents to take whatever they needed for as long as they needed,” said Abrams, spokesman for a group of local business owners who call themselves Citizens for Responsible Growth. “You just don’t get that kind of treatment from a big box.”

Mel Adams is one of five businessmen who own property on the land that Selleck plans to develop. The others have signed contracts to sell. The developer is still negotiating with Adams, who said he is willing to sell despite misgivings.

“It’s not Agoura Hills,” Adams said. “And I just want to be moved where I can be made whole. That’s it.”

City officials urged residents to wait until Selleck completes the environmental report before judging the project.

“Whether or not this is the right retail project remains to be seen,” said Denis Weber, mayor pro tem. “People are getting agitated before they know all the facts.”

“He still has to wend through the bureaucratic nightmare that the city makes all developers go through,” Weber said, noting that Selleck is the fourth to propose a project on the site. The project would generate 60,000 car trips each week, according to Selleck.

“It’s not my job to stop it, but I’m going to make the project more to my liking,” Councilman Kuperberg said.

Selleck, who built The Plant in Van Nuys--a project touted for transforming a community eyesore--said his latest project will be an asset to Agoura Hills.

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“There is a tremendous amount of sales tax exiting Agoura Hills,” Selleck said. “Very few tenants bring in tax to the city. This will keep tax in Agoura Hills and keep revenue from outside areas.”

The development would generate about $750,000 in sales tax revenue a year, city officials said.

Selleck, himself an Agoura Hills resident, said, “Personally, I don’t like having to drive one hour to and from Newbury Park just to go to Home Depot.”

He promised “high-quality, aesthetic” architecture and vowed to minimize the environmental impact, adding that he would work around the valued existing oak trees on the site.