Agoura Hills residents push back against new housing complex over evacuation access

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- The Agoura Hills community is pushing back on the potential construction of more than 1,000 new apartment units over concerns that it will make evacuating during fires even more dangerous.

People who survived the Woolsey Fire in 2018 are fighting against the proposed housing complex along the Kanan Route corridor, a major evacuation route for residents in the area.

"It took us over 50 minutes to go the two miles from Smoke Tree Avenue to Kannan Road in bumper-to-bumper traffic," resident Carolyn Gaspartin told the City Council on Wednesday night.

Years after that fire, the Palisades Fire forced another massive evacuation and many were again met with gridlock traffic.

"There's massive traffic independent of any fire," said Robert Weinstein of Agoura Hills.

As the city considers the possible new development, they reviewed a state-required evacuation study.

It looked at worst-case fire scenarios, including one during the school day with parents rushing to pick up their kids. The study found some parts of Kanan Road could reach more than twice the capacity during a major evacuation.

"Even before accounting for smoke, disabled vehicles, emergency activity, power outages and packed driving behavior," said resident Steve Goldman.

But the city still concluded the routes are safe and viable, pointing to possible fixes like reversing traffic lanes during a fire or pushing people to leave earlier.

However, for many residents like Cyndi Larson, that's not reassuring.

"You will be responsible for injuries and or deaths because of your outright, blatant refusal to stop building on Kanan," she said.

The City Council did not approve the development Wednesday, but council members did approve a vote to implement the evacuation analysis into the city's general plan - which could help guide future developments along the evacuation route.