Fountain Place Villas “Educator Townhomes”
By: Rob Jordan
60 or 70 local homeowners attended a workshop at Agoura High School on the evening of January 25 to listen to a presentation by the City of Agoura Hills regarding a low to moderate income condo development proposed for a one acre parcel of property on the Agoura High School campus. The workshop was hosted by staff members from the City of Agoura Hills. The project architect was present as well.
Called the Fountain Place Villas “Educator Townhomes” the project would be located at the end of Easterly Road along the east border of the school. The site is located in a Redevelopment District which gives the city certain latitude in deciding what type of a project might be suitable. 16 condos are planned, to be priced in the mid $200,000s. Buyers would need to qualify as low to moderate income households, earning between $40,000 and $82,000 per year. According to the terms of the Redevelopment District agreement, the City of Agoura Hills is required to build up to 40 low to moderate income housing units prior to 2014.
Nearly every speaker was opposed to the project.
Sandra Pope, a local teacher at Willow Elementary and Las Virgenes Educators Association president, spoke in favor of the development, which she said would allow low to moderate income teachers to “live in the district where they work.” Staff members pointed out that there is no guarantee that teachers would have priority to purchase the homes.
The homeowners opposition was centered around several recurring themes, including parking problems in the area, and many called it the wrong development in the wrong location.
Many speakers thought the parcel should be consider for a parking lot, citing the worsening parking situation in the area. The school has recently lost over 100 spaces due to the new performing arts center, and students are being forced to park in residential areas or on streets where parking is not permitted. Some parents said that students are receiving expensive parking tickets daily. Some residents of Annandale, the condominium development across from the school, said that finding street parking on evenings when there was a school event was nearly impossible.
You can’t discuss any development in the area WITHOUT addressing the parking problem was a theme that came up over and over during the evening. The City of Agoura Hills staff specifically said they could not discuss the parking problem, only the proposed development.
Many homeowners thought the idea of building 16 condo units on a one acre parcel was a bad idea, citing the rural nature of Old Agoura, and the one home per acre zoning for existing homes on Easterly. Some speakers pointed out that construction traffic up and down the narrow Easterly Road would cause even more traffic related issues.
Finally, several speakers and one realtor remarked that in the current housing market that there are dozens of low cost condos available for sale in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, and why not just buy some of those and turn them into subsidized low to moderate income housing.
In order to proceed, the Las Virgenes Unified School District which owns the parcel, is considering entering into a long term lease with the City of Agoura Hills, which would pay the school district $1,000,000 total over 65 years. One speaker remarked that it seemed like a bad idea to forever give up one acre of valuable land which might be needed for parking or additional classrooms.
Additional workshops and meetings are planned.
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Fountainwood is home to Sumac Elementary School and Sumac Park, and is within walking distance of Agoura High School. Two major shopping centers are close by, featuring a Vons, Ralphs, several restaurants, four banks, two drug stores and a host of other retail stores. Fountainwood homes were built between 1972 and 1981.
