Calabasas residents who voted down a hotel-and-homes project slated to be built on Las Virgenes Road near the 101 Freeway have gotten their wish – the project won’t get built. Now, a denser and taller one is planned there instead, and residents don’t have the option of voting it down. Measure F, which voters rejected on Election Day, would have approved a 111-room hotel, 67 single-family homes and duplex plan for 4790 Las Virgenes Road. The measure was backed by residents’ groups claiming the project would bring too much traffic and wipe out an ancient landslide, natural springs and wildlife. The “no” vote overturned the City Council’s May approval of the project. The original Canyon Oaks project would have been a third of the size allowed on the site by the city’s General Plan, according to Aliso Viejo-based developer New Home Co. But the hotel and its initial four-story height required changes to the General Plan and zoning, which opened the door for the ballot measure. Recently, New Home submitted a new proposal for the 77-acre site which follows the General Plan usage and zoning rules. As a result, New Home has asked to build 195 apartments, 10 townhomes, 150,000 square feet of office and retail space and 1,270 parking spaces. In addition, New Home is also allowed one concession to the city’s law, and it is to build higher. The structures, under the proposal, would range between two and six stories. Rick Bianchi, vice president and regional manager at New Home, said the original idea to include a hotel was something the city wanted for the bed tax revenue, but required the hearings that eventually resulted in the failed measure. “So we have no choice but to do something consistent with the General Plan and avoid future referendums,” Bianchi said. “Landowners have specific rights to develop their property.” He said the project went before the Development Review Committee, which determined it was allowed. It still has to go before the Planning Commission and City Council, and the company must update the environmental impact report. “We were fine building 71 houses in a gated community and a hotel, but the community wasn’t,” he said. “If the community wants the General Plan followed, that’s what we’re going to do.” Net Zero Living Developers behind the massive Newhall Ranch master planned community proposed in Santa Clarita recently announced their latest strategy – a plan to become a zero-net greenhouse gas emissions community, and possibly the world’s first of its kind. Five Point Holdings in Aliso Viejo said its proposal to achieve zero net GHG emissions through measures within and outside the community has gotten nods of approval from the California Air Resources Board, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and L.A. County’s Department of Regional Planning. The agencies determined the project would reduce the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Five Point. Last year, the state’s Supreme Court determined that an environmental impact report prepared for the Newhall project by the Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife didn’t sufficiently analyze potential GHG emissions and protection measures for an endangered fish species. Chief Executive Emile Haddad said after receiving the court decision, the company decided to see what it would take to offset all its emissions and “be the Tesla of the world.” “The technology is not here for us to be able to get to this level on site,” Haddad said, so the company, in addition to actions outlined for within the planned community, has proposed measures in other parts of L.A. County and globally. Onsite measures include building homes meeting zero net energy standards; installing electric vehicle charging stations inside each home and 2,000 stations around the community; providing subsidies for electric vehicles, programs for electric public transportation vehicles and bike and car-share programs. Offsite elements include energy efficient upgrades for schools and public buildings in disadvantaged communities, building 2,000 electric vehicles, charging stations in L.A. County, reducing methane emissions on a California dairy farm and funding clean cooking appliances in Africa. The cost to Five Point will likely be in the “hundreds of millions of dollars,” Haddad said Next phase is a six-week public comment period, followed by the decision by state agencies whether to certify the environmental impact report and then a 30-day period for possible legal challenges. “We expect that to happen because of the legal challenges that have arisen to everything that has happened on that site,” Haddad said. The project would build 21,500 homes and 11.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space. It was approved by Los Angeles County more than a decade ago. Staff Reporter Carol Lawrence can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or [email protected].
