Agoura Hills Won’t Contribute to Retail Project

Agoura Hills officials say they have rejected a proposal that the city contribute $1.5 million toward a Home Depot-anchored retail development.

The officials say the proposal was unacceptable because it lacked a guarantee that the builder would finish both phases of the project.

Developer Dan Selleck had asked that the $1.5 million be spent during the first phase of construction, City Atty. Craig Steele said.

The proposal would have given Selleck the option to complete the second phase, which would include improvements to Agoura Road.

“Any developer is going to ask for as much flexibility as possible,” Steele said. “As a city, we want to have as much certainty as possible.”

He added that the Home Depot negotiations also have yet to resolve whether the developer or city would pay to widen the two-lane Agoura Road and bury utility lines.

Selleck could not be reached for comment.

The developer and city have been in negotiations for years. The Home Depot is the centerpiece of a redevelopment plan for the area. Opposition to it led to Measure H, a March 5 ballot initiative that would block construction of stores larger than 60,000 square feet.

If approved, the measure would close the door to Home Depot.

City Councilman Jeff Reinhardt called Measure H “a very sweeping proposal that goes too far and locks that policy into the city’s ordinances in perpetuity. It’s like using an atomic bomb to swat a fly.”

The measure comes at a time when anticipated state budget cuts, highway intersection upgrades and higher costs for law enforcement have created a need for additional sales tax revenue, Reinhardt said.

The scheduled reconstruction of the Kanan Road/Ventura Freeway intersection alone will cost $23 million, including more than $12 million in city funds, Reinhardt said.

The city’s total annual budget is $8 million.

Voters in 1997 defeated a proposed 3% utility tax that would have raised $700,000 a year.

After considering other avenues for funding, Reinhardt said, new retail emerged as the most attractive.

“By defeating the utility tax, voters made us purely dependent on retail for discretionary funds,” Reinhardt said.

All five council members’ names appear on a political mailer urging a “no” vote on Measure H.

Even so, the council members have not taken a position on the Home Depot project, which would require their approval.

“I still have a hard time seeing that I’d ever vote for a big box,” Councilman Dan Kuperberg said.

But Kuperberg also said that Home Depot may be the only retailer with enough sales volume to provide the amount of tax revenue the city needs.

Six former mayors of Agoura Hills last week joined the council in opposing Measure H. Thom Bancroft, a spokesman for Taxpayers Opposed to Special Treatment, which opposes the measure, said the initiative would prevent the council from responding to population growth.

“As the city grows, where is money going to come from, if not retail sales tax?” Bancroft asked.

If Measure H fails, a host of hurdles would still stand in the way of Home Depot, including negotiations with landowners and opposition from residents and small businesses.

The Citizens for Responsible Growth, formed last year by three business owners, spearheaded the signature drive that got Measure H on the ballot.

The group has spent about $140,000 to promote the measure. Much of the money was contributed by Do It Center, Agoura Equipment Rentals and Roadside Lumber.

Do It Center is a Home Depot competitor. The other two businesses are in the redevelopment zone, and their owners are concerned about the plan’s possible effect on their properties.