Developer Amcal Multi-Housing Inc. hoped that a courtesy presentation before a community group would guarantee smooth sailing for its planned 335-unit luxury apartment complex on the site of the current Woodland Hills post office. Instead, the Agoura Hills developer got sucked into a whirlpool of criticism that swamped its Jan. 15 talk with the Planning and Land Use Committee of the Warner Center-Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council. Over the course of about 90 minutes, council members grilled Amcal representatives on the impact that yet another multi-family residential project would have on traffic congestion and quality of life in the West Valley. The developers defended the plan. “We’re very confident that the proposal we’re sharing with you today is workable, and we’d love for you guys to be on board with us,” said Eric Lieberman, chief executive of QES Inc., Amcal’s Van Nuys land use consultant. But vocal committee members were far from enthusiastic about the proposed 4.2-acre, 408,000-square-foot project, designed by Orange County architect Michael Heinrich of Architects Orange. “There is tremendous opposition to this project from the folks who live near there,” declared Marty Lipkin, the committee’s vice chairman. Read the entire story in the Jan. 26 edition of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
