Agoura Hills holds scoping meeting for Bicycle Master Plan programmatic EIR

The Agoura Hills Planning Commission opened a public scoping meeting to gather input on a programmatic environmental impact report for the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. Staff said the meeting’s purpose was to identify the environmental topics the draft EIR should analyze and to solicit scoping comments from agencies and the public.

“Tonight, we are not going to dive into the details of the Bicycle Master Plan,” Community Development Director Denise Thomas told the commission. “So what we're looking for is, did we capture all of the impacts that you believe we should be looking at?”

Senior Civil Engineer Charmaine Yambo summarized the plan’s goals, saying the plan would expand Agoura Hills’s existing bicycle network and connect local and regional destinations. “The city of Agoura Hills is a haven for cyclists of all kinds,” Yambo said, and staff described a proposed network that would add new bikeways and improvements to encourage bicycling as a transportation option.

Taylor Freeman, a senior environmental planner with Rincon Consultants, reviewed the CEQA schedule and the scoping process. Freeman said the notice of preparation for the PEIR was published on Jan. 13, scoping comments are being accepted through 5 p.m. on Feb. 17, and the draft EIR is expected to be published for a 45-day public review period in summer or fall 2025. The city anticipates certification of the final EIR and project approval in early spring 2026.

Project components described for analysis in the programmatic EIR include a proposed expansion of the city’s bicycle network, two priority projects and related actions: a Madea Creek Pathway described as a roughly 2-mile path providing an alternative to biking on Canaan Road; an Agoura High School connection identified as a roughly 0.3-mile path from Thousand Oaks Boulevard near Agoura Street to Easterly Road and Fountain Place adjacent to Agoura High School; a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) mitigation and exchange (banking) program to fund projects when private development exceeds CEQA VMT thresholds; and minor General Plan amendments to ensure consistency with the Bicycle Master Plan.

Transcript remarks contain two different mileage figures for the proposed network: one slide referenced “30.1 miles of new bikeways and bikeway improvements,” and a later slide referenced “11.5 miles of new bikeways and bikeway improvements.” Staff did not resolve that discrepancy during the meeting; the draft EIR will need to clarify the final scope and mileage figures.

Freeman said the draft PEIR will include focused chapters on topics that may have significant impacts and a concise chapter for topics found not to be significant. Topics specifically mentioned by staff as likely to require individual analysis include biological resources (especially for off-road Class I multi-use paths), cultural resources, aesthetics, and construction-related air quality and noise impacts. Freeman also encouraged commenters to propose alternatives and mitigation measures during the scoping period.

Commissioners asked about outreach and interagency coordination. Thomas and Yambo said the project team had conducted earlier outreach (online surveys, community workshops on March 22 and July 12, 2022, stakeholder contacts including Los Angeles County Sheriff and Las Virgenes Unified School District, social media, and community events) and that the notice of preparation had been distributed to responsible and trustee agencies. Staff said they would continue social media outreach and could reach out to local bike shops to raise awareness of the scoping period.

No decisions or votes were taken on the Bicycle Master Plan at the meeting; staff and the consultant repeatedly noted that the commission was being asked only for scoping input. “There’s no decision or action that's required of the planning commission tonight,” Yambo said.

Comments on the notice of preparation are due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 17 and may be submitted by mail, email, comment card, or verbally at the meeting for summarization into the record; contact information appears on the notice of preparation and the project webpage.

Votes at the meeting were procedural and unrelated to the Bicycle Master Plan; the planning commission did not approve or certify any environmental document at this hearing.