It might not look like much at the moment. But where a dozen poles with orange rope strung between them currently stand near the intersection of Las Virgenes and Agoura roads in Calabasas could one day be the site of a boutique hotel. That proposal is one of three hospitality projects on the table in the city of Calabasas. The roped-off site is part of the larger Canyon Oaks project, planned by Aliso Viejo homebuilder New Home Co., that also includes a gated residential community of 67 single-family houses and two duplexes. Rick Bianchi, vice president and regional manager for New Home in Southern California, said the company’s strategy is less about the size of a land parcel than its location. The firm likes to build in good neighborhoods, adjacent to good schools and close to transportation corridors. “That is one reason that Calabasas is appealing to us, especially this property on the west side of town,” he said. On a nearby plot of 4 acres, separated from Canyon Oaks by a gas station, developer Richard Weintraub wants to build the Rondell Oasis, a 73,000-square-foot, 127-room hotel. If approved by the Calabasas City Council, the two new hotels would join three others serving visitors to the area: the Anza, Hilton Garden Inn and Good Nite Inn. The Hilton Garden Inn has filed an application with the city to build a three-story addition to its existing property. City Manager Tony Coroalles said that hotels are a better investment than commercial office or retail because those properties are already at a surplus in the city. “What you got is a dynamic that looks like hotel uses in this area pencil out for the owners,” Coroalles said. The city also likes to see hotels because such properties do not generate the same amount of traffic as office or retail space and they pay a 12 percent bed tax. The city’s chief financial officer has estimated that the Rondell Oasis, for example, would add $626,000 annually to Calabasas’ coffers. “If that were a medical office building, for instance, the (city’s) revenue would be $5,000 from a structure of the same size,” Coroalles said. The Calabasas Coalition, a group of residents group opposed to what they see as overdevelopment in the city, has come out against both new hotel projects. Joanne Suwara, a co-founder of the group, said an overriding concern is the four-story height – or 50 feet – of both buildings. Allowing them to be that size sets a bad precedent and would turn Las Virgenes Road south of the 101 freeway into a smaller version of Ventura Boulevard, she said. Calabasas likes to promote itself as the gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, but, Suwara said, “it is not going to look like a gateway with those kinds of massive buildings greeting you.” Seeking approval New Home first proposed a project on its Calabasas property in January 2014. The original concept called for 141 single-family homes, eight condominiums and the hotel on 21 acres of the 77 acres the company owns. The remainder would stay open space. Later that year, however, the company submitted a scaled-back proposal that is now before the city with 71 dwelling units and the hotel. “It was the sensitive thing to do,” Bianchi said of shrinking the project. “It means a lot to get to this point of getting city approval.” The New Home development still needs to be voted on by the Planning Commission, and then the City Council, which could happen as early as May. Grading of the property, which would include repairing a landslide area, would then start in late summer with home construction coming in spring of next year. The residential component would be a two-year build-out and would be expected to sell out by 2019, Bianchi said. The hotel portion would start construction in summer of next year and be ready for visitors in late spring or early summer 2018, he said. But Joanna Suwara; her husband, John; and other members of the Calabasas Coalition want to persuade city leaders to reduce the project down to three stories. “If they want a three-story hotel, go for it,” John Suwara said. “We are fighting the precedent of four stories.” In the draft environmental impact report, the project was found to be consistent with the city’s 2030 General Plan and Las Virgenes Gateway Master Plan. The report also looked at alternatives, including a three-story hotel. Reducing the height would result in a larger footprint of 22,100 square feet, compared with the 16,965 square feet of a four-story hotel, according to the report. A smaller hotel would be similar to commercial development in the area. “While the height would be reduced, the overall massing and intensity of the hotel component of this alternative would be similar to the proposed project,” the report said. “The impact to views from Las Virgenes Road to designated significant ridgelines and other rolling hillsides would be incrementally lessened, but would remain potentially significant.” The hotel’s design went through five rounds before the city’s architectural review panel, Bianchi said, adding that New Home has not chosen an operator for the facility yet. “We are not at the point far enough along to strike a deal,” he said. Height concerns Weintraub filed an application in November 2014 for his hotel project at 26300 Rondell St. The application seeks, among other permissions, a conditional use permit as the hotel exceeds the 35-foot building height limit. The Calabasas Planning Commission on Feb. 4 voted 3-2 to recommend the City Council approve the project. No date has been set yet for the council vote. Attempts to reach Weintraub were not successful but documents filed with the city detail his proposal. The staff report for a Planning Commission meeting earlier this month discussed the height issue and explained that the design of the hotel would offset the visual impact of the 50-foot high structure, including vertical and horizontal articulation and having the fourth floor stepped back to reduce the perceived height of the building. The staff report compared the Weintraub hotel to other tall buildings in the city, including the four-story, 60-foot high Kilroy Calabasas Park Centre on Park Sorrento; the three-story, 55-foot high Calabasas Square; and the 45-foot to 52-foot Mureau office buildings. However, critics of the proposal say a building with 50-foot stature would stand out too much in that area of the city. “There is nothing except for an apartment building (with a loft) south of the freeway that exceeds two stories,” John Suwara said. A mitigated negative declaration study was filed on the project in November that drew more than 100 comments from residents and organizations including the National Park Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Los Angeles County Fire Department. In addition to the height of the hotel, residents are troubled by how the hotel would impact the De Anza National Historic Trail that runs by the property. Weintraub has proposed setting aside five parking spaces at the trailhead next to the hotel parking lot. Some residents, however, did not think that was adequate given the trail’s popularity with hikers and horseback riders. “The proposed hotel blocks and hinders access to a designated national historic trail that should be a source of pride for the city, not something to be accessed by a staircase in a parking lot behind a hotel,” resident Peter Heumann wrote in his letter that was among the 100 comments. A number of letters have also raised concerns about traffic. Coroalles, the city manager, said office buildings of similar size to the hotels could generate up to four times the vehicle trips. Hotels, on the other hand, would have just one car for each room, and the vehicles would be used more in the mornings and evenings. “You would rather have two hotels going in side by side than two offices building going in side by side,” Coroalles said.