Saratoga Hills News    

 News Items

  • Pet Kennel Property upzoning could nearly double housing units in our neighborhood!!!
  • August 5th Neighborhood BBQ & Magic Show huge success
  • Lost Hills Bridge
  • Agoura Hills Cert Training Starts January 22nd

 City to consider upzoning the Pet Kennel Property on Canwood for low income multi-family housing

The City of Calabasas General Plan must be updated every 10 years in accordance with State law.  The City appointed a General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) to review the existing Plan and to make recommendations for changes to the Planning Commission and eventually the City Council.  The Housing Element of the Plan has become extremely important to the Saratoga Community.  There is a State requirement titled, the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), which identifies the number of lower income units that must be identified in every general plan.  The State has allocated 521 units for the City of Calabasas according to the following income groups:  137 very low income, 86 low income, 93 moderate income, and 205 above moderate income.  There are cities that have ignored the RHNA requirements, but some would suggest the State could impose legal and financial penalties.  This discussion will not take place until the General Plan goes before the City Council.  

 

Staff and the City consultant informed GPAC that they would recommend to the City Council and the Planning Commission that he city utilize the 6.6 acre Rancho Pet Kennel site in our community to build 132 units of low and very low income units to help meet the RHNA requirements, irrespective of a GPAC recommendation to the contrary. The site is currently zoned multi-family at 16 units to the acre, but was increased to 20 units to the acre to meet RHNA low income density requirements.   On the third try, the GPAC narrowly agreed to support the recommendation, which has been sent to the Planning Commission.  Planning Commission hearings could begin on September 4.

 This ill-conceived plan will completely change the character of Saratoga.  There are many health and safety issues associated with this plan and the Saratoga quality of life will be severely impacted. 

Access

·         Los Angeles County Code 21.24.020 limits single access developments to 300 units.  Adding 132 units to our existing 270 units would make Saratoga 102 units over the legal limit.

·         The City of Calabasas has a plan to expand and improve the Lost Hills Bridge, but sufficient funding is not available.  The City is seeking grants to fund more than one-half of the cost, but the timing and prospect for success are difficult to predict.  In any case, the City should not even consider a major project in our community until the bridge widening is completed. 

·          There is no safe pedestrian access to Saratoga.  Residents, including many children, must walk on dirt along Canwood Street and then cross two very dangerous freeway ramps with drivers that are not expecting pedestrians.  Saratoga would be a poor choice for a low income development where many residents are expected to walk to public transportation.

·         Los Angeles County Code limits single access developments to 300 units for traffic and safety reasons.  Saratoga currently experiences severe traffic congestion at school peak periods and suffers grid-lock with many traffic accidents.  During natural disasters including earthquakes and fires our residents safety could be jeopardized as residents from 402 households would be trying get out of the same one lane exit. 

   Unsuitable site       

·         Constructing a high density project within a few feet of a freeway results in a horrible living environment.  The noise and air quality issues are significant.

·         Low income developments should be adjacent to public transportation and supporting services.  The Pet Kennel is isolated with no public transportation and unsafe pedestrian access.

·         Increasing the density of the single access Saratoga community by 50% will create significant safety issues for all emergencies. 

·         The proposed density will result in more than 100 units over the Los Angeles County Code for single access developments.

·         Saratoga is a large lot single family community that will not blend well with a 20 unit per acre development

Schools·         Lupin Hill is the most crowded elementary school with by far the most modular classrooms.  High density development should not be placed where it will have the greatest impact on school crowding.Alternative Sites

·         All of the low income housing is currently designated for the West side of the City.  Equity and fairness dictates that the impacts from high density developments should shared by the East side of the City.

·         The Messenger 2 property located near Las Virgenes and Agoura Roads has capacity for 160 low income units and is near many community services.

·         There are other sites available in the City to satisfy low income housing including the Driving Range property near Calabasas and Mureau Roads.  The Driving Range site, with a capacity of 120 units, makes the most sense.  The site is close to the freeway, but the Pet Kennel property is right on the freeway.  Lupin Hill Elementary School will not be impacted by a project at this site and it is located in the center of the City, closer to public transportation and other services.  This site would not impact any other residential developments.

 

The GPAC recommendation to construct 132 units at the Pet Kennel site is a very poor recommendation.  The Planning Commission could review the recommendations on September 4, 2008.  The City Council could receive Planning Commission recommendations in September or October.  Volunteers are needed to send letters, write emails, sign and circulate petitions, attend hearings, and speak at the hearings if we are to defeat the Pet Kennel proposal.  

 

Saratoga Hills residents should contact Norm Buehring at normbuehring@msn.com and Saratoga Ranch residents should contact Andy Leff at aleff@spile-siegal.com        

CASH Neighborhood BBQ & Magic Show at Grape Arbor Park a huge success 

The first annaul (we hope) free neighborhood BBQ & Magic Show at Grape Arbor Park on Tuesday, August 5th was a huge success.  With more than 150 neighbors showing up to share a beautiful evening, share some good food, watch some magic and see displays by LA County Fire station #125 with two trucks, LA County Sheriffs Search & Rescue Truck and the Lost Hills Station of LASD.

Special thanks go to Frank Padilla who not only brought his BBQ wagon, cooked burgers and dogs for the crowd and then put on a magic show for the kids and others watching.

We also want to thank all of our volunteers who helped make the event possible.  Special guests in attendance included city councilman James Bozajian, who almost never misses a CASH board meeting to report on city issues.  Another special guest was Lost Hills Sheriffs Department Captain Tom Martin who came and enjoyed the evening.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and we hope to see this become an annual event that becomes bigger and more fun each year.

City to replace Lost Hills bridge
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

losthills.bidge.jpg.jpg
NARROW PATH- A truck crosses the bridge over the 101 Freeway at Lost Hills Road in Calabasas. A $20-million proposal calls for a new, wider bridge, but the work probably won't begin until 2011.
The Calabasas City Council has approved a $20million agreement with Caltrans to replace the bridge on Lost Hills Road over the 101 Freeway.

The current bridge has only two lanes and is 4 feet lower than a standard bridge. The new bridge is slated to be five lanes wide, but because it provides the only access to parts of the community, the city cannot demolish the bridge before building the new one.

"In phase one, we will keep the existing bridge and build three lanes of the new bridge next to it," said Alex Farassati, environmental service manager for Calabasas. "When that's completed we will demo the old bridge and add two more lanes."

Farassati said the city needs about $17 million for the work and has hired lobbyists in Washington, D.C., in the hope of securing federal money. The other $3 million will come from the local budget and perhaps from the county or the California Department of Transportation as well.

The 101 Freeway and the area from the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles to the 23 Freeway in Thousand Oaks is being included in the U.S.-101 Freeway Corridor Improvement Study. In April 2003, the study committee recommended as a longrange concept the addition of one mixed-flow lane in the four-lane segment of the freeway between Moorpark Road and Topanga Canyon Boulevard and two high-occupancy vehicle lanes in each direction.

The Southern California Association of Governments is working to refine the recommendations in one draft, proposing a longrange concept that would add a high-occupancy toll lane in each direction and light-rail transit in the median.

But the proposals require the improvement of the Lost Hills bridge. Members of the city's staff are working to finalize the agreement with Caltrans, outlining each jurisdiction's responsibility.

In addition to the bridge, a "partial cloverleaf" design will be added to one of the onramps to the new bridge. Drivers headed north on Lost Hills Road toward the landfill will be able to make a right turn and proceed in a circle to the freeway. Other onramps will have to be realigned because the new bridge will be longer and higher.

"There is a lot of traffic going to the landfill," Farassati said. "From about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. there are many trucks going back and forth. From Malibu, unincorporated L.A. County, Agoura, Westlake- they all go over that bridge."

The city is negotiating with the county to pick up the design phase as opposed to going to a private company. County officials estimate they'll need about a year and a half to prepare the plans and environmental documents, and by the end of 2010 the project will be ready to go out to bid. If funding is available, construction would begin in early 2011.

 

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