CITY VOTES FOR DESIGN STANDARDS; AGOURA HILLS WANTS BALANCE.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Following a recent wave of commercial developments proposed along the city's freeway corridor, the City Council has taken its first step to establish a new set of guidelines for the size and architectural design of large commercial projects.

The new ordinance will require any free-standing structure of at least 60,000 square feet, as well as multistructure developments totaling more than 100,000 square feet, to be subject to closer scrutiny by the city.

In addition to meeting the building requirements laid out in existing city codes, such projects would be held to 10 more standards concerning proximity to residential communities and traffic impacts on city streets. The goal, council members and staff said, is to ensure the new development's compatibility with existing nearby structures and neighborhoods.

``This is so important because, truly, all the major development from here on is going to be along the freeway corridor, and two of the major projects proposed are right near Kanan Road, which we consider both the gateway to the city and to the Santa Monica Mountains,'' said Councilwoman Louise Rishoff, who supported the ordinance on Wednesday.

``I think it is important to have an extra layer of review to be sure the projects that go in really make the kind of statement we want at such critical locations - that they are appropriate in scale and that the design standards are high,'' Rishoff said.

For the past several months, the council has been discussing various drafts of the ordinance to establish additional criteria for large-scale developments in the Freeway Corridor Overlay Zone.

In September, the council asked the Planning Commission to review an earlier draft of the ordinance, which would have triggered additional review of a project only if it included any free-standing structure of 60,000 square feet or more.

But Wednesday night, the council acted on the commission's recommendation to amend the ordinance to look at the cumulative impact of a development - at the total square footage of buildings proposed in a development rather than at the square footage of a single building.

The council amended the ordinance and a majority voted in its favor, but not without some dissent.

``Initially, I supported the plan as it stood. I favor limiting the size of a single structure to keep buildings from looking like giant boxes. But I don't think it is appropriate to limit a combined area,'' said Mayor Denis Weber, who cast the single vote against the new draft of the ordinance.

Weber said such a measure is important in ensuring the quality of development coming into the city, but he added that the additional provision may raise questions in the minds of developers.

``We want to ensure flexibility. And I thought this was more limiting than flexible,'' Weber said.

Amanda Susskind, Agoura Hills' new city attorney sworn in Wednesday night, said the new amendment does not legally limit the construction of such projects.

``Nothing is being prohibited by this. It's just an extra level of scrutiny to ensure the compatibility of new buildings with existing buildings and with neighbors. The need to pass that level before a conditional use permit can be granted and construction can begin,'' she said.

For local developer Neil Nadler, whose commercial redevelopment project south of the Ventura Freeway is expected to bring Target and Home Depot to Agoura Hills, the new ordinance is not necessarily a bad hurdle for developers.

``The city wants redevelopment projects, but they're also saying that they're in favor up to a point,'' he said. ``Now projects will have to pass that additional test.''

But, he added, the additional level of scrutiny could help ensure higher-quality developments for the city's precious freeway corridor.

The City Council will consider the ordinance on a second reading at its next meeting Jan. 14.