Reviews Mixed : Project to Boost Skyline in Westlake

A proposed 1.5-million-square-foot retail and office complex, including buildings of up to six stories, would be a major departure from the “low-profile character” of the city of Westlake Village, where no building is taller than two stories, according to a draft environmental impact study released Friday.

The Westlake North proposal, made for 131 vacant acres north of the Ventura Freeway and east of Lindero Canyon Road, would include 400 apartments or condominiums along with an office park, a 250-room, four-story hotel and a 300,000-square-foot shopping center.

It requires approval of the City Council before it could be built by Westlake Village Associates, a firm run by Daniel K. Ludwig, who developed most of the city. The council is expected to schedule a public hearing on the draft environmental study this summer.

The study by Cotton/Beland/Associates of Pasadena was made public by Westlake Village city officials.

It said the project would negatively affect the area’s aesthetics, traffic, schools, plant life and air quality, but would add jobs and affordable housing. The consultant was chosen by the city, which will be reimbursed for the report’s $100,000 cost by the developer.

The report said Westlake North “proposes development at height and scale above any development currently existing within the city, and such development represents a significant deviation from the existing low-profile character of the city. The project would further impact some views of the surrounding mountains.”

Charles H. Fry, a spokesman for the developer, said preliminary plans call for two six-story buildings, four four-story buildings and one three-story building. But the taller buildings would be better than a sprawling collection of two-story buildings that would swallow up more open space, he said.

Fry also noted that the Westlake Village area of Thousand Oaks--the portion of Westlake Village west of the Ventura-Los Angeles county line--has buildings higher than two stories, such as the five-story Westlake Plaza Hotel.

31,600 Daily Trips

The draft environmental report estimated that Westlake North would generate 31,600 daily traffic trips. But developer-financed improvements to streets and to the Lindero Canyon Road interchange with the Ventura Freeway would lessen the impact of that traffic, it said.

The report also noted that 35 residential or commercial developments are approved or proposed between Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks. The traffic from those developments would affect Westlake Village, which may have worse traffic problems if it does not get the street improvements that would be financed by Westlake North, Fry said.

Westlake Village Planning Director Robert Theobald agreed, saying that without projects such as Westlake North, “the financing of the improvements gets to be much more difficult.”

But many questions about Westlake North have yet to be answered, said City Councilwoman Bonnie Klove.

Golf Course Plans

Chief among them is what the developer plans to do with Westlake Village Golf Course south of the freeway, she said. About five years ago, the city denied an attempt by the developer to build on the golf course because residents want it to remain as open space, Klove said.

“We denied Daniel Ludwig the right to build on that golf course,” Klove said. “He is using that as a little leverage to tell the city . . . ‘You’ve got to give me something’ ” on the Westlake North property.

In September, Fry wrote a letter to residents saying Westlake North “will allow us the resources to continue this commitment to operate and support the golf course.”

“I felt it had a threatening tone to it,” resident Sybil Nisenholz said of the letter.

Fry, however, said the developer is not using the golf course to make threats or as leverage to get Westlake North approved.