California Wildfires
California has been the state most threatened by wildfires, with over 40% of all burned acres in America in 2024 (BEFORE the Eaton and Palisades Fires) occuring within its borders. The state leads in wildfire-prone properties, with 2.1 million homes at risk, a number nearly three times higher than Texas (750,000), Colorado (380,000), and Arizona (250,000), according to the Insurance Information Institute.
SEE ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA'S GUIDELINES FOR BUILDING IN WILDFIRE AREAS click here
The problem is not added housing. The problem is placing the majority of the city's high density housing along its main evacuation route.
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The City of Agoura Hills has rezoned six development sites along Kanan Road to allow construction of high density housing, to add over 1676 units.
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·Evacuation for Oak Park, Agoura Hills, unincorporated
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L. A. County, and Malibu is severely impacted.
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·The City is placing low-income renters in harm’s way by situating them on an evacuation route that will clog and bottleneck in an emergency.
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·Two of the most significant apartment complexes are planned at Kanan and Agoura roads, the choke point for evacuation.
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·The City's Evacuation Plan and Analysis are inadequate and intentionally omit Kanan Road south of the intersection of Kanan and Agoura roads in order to ignore the impact these projects will have on evacuation traffic from unincorporated Los Angeles County and Malibu.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
It's not hard to figure out.
The City of Agoura Hills is building affordable housing, as well it should. California needs housing! In fact, the state currently requires that every city and jurisdiction in California build an assigned number of affordable units by 2029. The state does not, however, dictate where the housing will be placed. Those decisions are left to the cities that are building the housing.
The state is requiring the City of Agoura Hills to build 318 affordable units and the city has made plans to comply. In fact, the city plans to build considerably more than 318 units. PRISMM has no problem whatsoever with the housing itself, but the placement of the housing and its inevitable impact upon Kanan Road evacuation is a concern.
The Woolsey Fire of 2018 decimated the Santa Monica Mountains and parts of Malibu. Even the City of Agoura Hills suffered damage, though not as extensive as other local communities.
Notice the turquoise area in the center of the Woolsey Fire Map. This is where the City of Agoura Hills has chosen to place 15 of 20 (75%) of the city's housing sites, at the base of the fragile Santa Monica Mountains in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone/Wild-urban interface - the most dangerous place to build new construction.
Within three miles of these proposed sites, three people died in the Woolsey Fire, hundreds of homes were destroyed and livestock, domestic pets and wildlife perished. The City of Agoura Hills is not only creating a NEW FIRE HAZARD with the placement of this housing - much of it high-density. The City is also misrepresenting the danger (see "Evacuation Analysis" section, above) by submitting a misleading Evacuation Analysis that leaves out a critical portion of Kanan Road and the populations of residents of the Santa Monica Mountains and Malibu.
Twenty Housing sites. Fifteen (75%) south of the 101 Fwy.
Five largest* sites (25%) are on Kanan Road, the main evacuation route.
Seven (33%) on or next to Kanan Road, the main evacuation route.
Highest Density on or adjacent to Kanan Road, the main evacuation route.
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING ?
From The WOOLSEY Fire-
3 DEAD, 1643 Structures lost, 96,949 acres burned
From The PALISADES Fire-
12 DEAD, 6837 structures lost, 23,448 acres burned
From the EATON Fire-
19 DEAD, 972 Structures Lost, 14,021 acres burned
Have We Learned Nothing From The Woolsey Fire?
See the story HERE
For more details about Agoura Hills' State Mandated Affordable Housing site choices, click here.
For More about the city's Evacuation Analysis, click here.