Agoura Hills Vote to Decide Big-Box Issue

The time has come to settle the score in Agoura Hills’ battle of the big-box stores.

Voters will decide Tuesday on Measure H, a ballot initiative that would prohibit construction of any retail building larger than 60,000 square feet.

For months, the issue has divided the 21,500 residents of this upscale, semirural community in western Los Angeles County. Neighbors argue about it, parents and teachers debate outside schools and letter writers weigh in for or against the measure in the local weekly newspaper, the Acorn.

The two sides have spent thousands of dollars on campaign phone banks, petitions, ads, fliers and lawn signs.

“To say I’m looking forward to an end of all this is an understatement,” Agoura Hills Mayor Denis Weber said Friday evening. “This has split the community.”

The measure arose from business owners and residents ruffled by a proposal to build a Home Depot on Agoura Road, near Kanan Road and the city’s most prominent point, Ladyface Mountain.

Dan Selleck, president of Selleck Development Group in Westlake Village, submitted a preliminary proposal a year ago for an 11.4-acre project that would include a 115,000-square-foot anchor store alongside a 24,000-square-foot garden center.

Selleck has yet to file a completed application with the city, but that hasn’t stopped Measure H proponents from trying to ban Home Depot or other large stores from setting up shop in Agoura Hills.

The project would generate an estimated $500,000 in sales tax revenue in the first year of operation and $750,000 by year 10, according to Selleck and Weber. The money would go toward police, fire, road improvements and other city services, Weber said.

Without the money, the mayor said, the council would have to consider raising taxes. The city has no utility or business license tax.

If Measure H passes, developers would have to convince voters to overturn the law in a future election before they could draw plans for large stores.

“Not many people understand that this is not just about the Home Depot,” a reason that Agoura Hills’ council members and former mayors oppose Measure H, Weber said. “We can’t close the door to free enterprise.”

In fact, officials said city codes already ensure that any proposal for a large retail development undergo strict scrutiny.

Misinformation in campaign brochures and the press has confused the issue, said Weber, Selleck and other leaders in both camps. Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported erroneously that the city had prepared an agreement pledging public funds for the Home Depot project.

Figures on traffic flow, environmental impacts and specific costs are still being hammered out, Weber said.

Nor has the city decided how much money--if any--it would contribute to the project or related improvements, such as widening roads, Weber and other officials said.

All of those decisions would be made after the council holds public hearings.

But Measure H supporters said they do not want a big-box store of any kind. “They don’t fit in with the community,” said Antonette Krpan-Giglio, co-author of the initiative and a member of Citizens for Responsible Growth, which opposes large retail stores.

Besides being ugly, Krpan-Giglio said, she feared the Home Depot would cause traffic jams and noise, destroy trees and streams, drive down property values and attract day laborers.

“Everyone is so divided,” said Krpan-Giglio, who has lived in Agoura Hills for 11 years. “It’s been a very painful process.”

Spearheading the pro-Measure H movement are Do-It Center, Agoura Equipment Rentals, Roadside Lumber and other stores that would compete with Home Depot.

Jess Ruf, owner of 10 Do-It Center stores in California, including the one in Agoura Hills, said he is not against competition, “but I have a right to defend my business. A Home Depot just opens the door to more big-box stores. Next, there will be a Target.”

But Thom Bancroft, co-chairman of Taxpayers Opposing Special Treatment, a group fighting Measure H, said the city needs big stores.

“Instead of going to Westlake Village or other communities, why not keep the sales tax in our community?” Bancroft said.

Despite the obstacles, Home Depot wants to be in the community, said Greg George, real estate manager for the Atlanta-based chain’s regional offices in Orange. Stores in nearby Woodland Hills and Thousand Oaks receive a steady stream of Agoura Hills shoppers, he said.

The company has grappled with unwelcoming cities, but having to overcome a ballot initiative is rare, said George, who has helped broker Home Depot deals for 14 years. It has given $75,000 to the anti-Measure H efforts, he said.

Selleck, a longtime Agoura Hills resident, said his Craftsman-style Home Depot would complement the new City Hall and library. He also said it would eliminate the rubbish, vacant lots and garish billboards dotting the area.

“We’re cleaning up the blight,” he said.