54 more apartments coming to jammed Kanan Road interchange
Agoura Hills will add a four-story, income-restricted complex next to another 278-unit project at Malibu's emergency fire exit.
Construction of 54 apartments in a four-story building will start this spring, right next to the already-jammed Kanan Road interchange with the 101 Freeway.
This is right next to another multistory apartment house already under construction — 278 apartments where the movie theater used to be.
Agoura Hills has had plans to turn the area of Agoura Road, near Kanan Road, into its urban center. Residents up there have voiced loud concerns about population density in the very-fire-hazard area. Kanan Road at the 101 freeway and Agoura Road is already jammed.
Malibu residents have voiced concerns about how these often-gridlocked intersections will handle evacuation traffic when the next fire hits.
The 54 apartments will be built where a self-storage yard sits now, just east of the gas station and chicken drive-thru on Kanan Road. Construction is set to begin this spring.
The 54 apartments would be income-restricted. The income range for the property would cover a range of occupations including public school teachers, entry-level Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies, medical assistants, grocery store clerks, caregivers and other civilian workers.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development is investing up to $20 million in the project.
The City of Agoura Hills is all built out — all covered with subdivisions of tract homes. And there is a state requirement that it build more housing. Cities must zone for a certain amount of residential development, including affordable housing.
Agoura Hills has decided to put all those houses at its southern edge, next to the gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains and the emergency fire exit route from Malibu.