Las Virgenes details advanced water purification plant, oak mitigation on Agoura Road site

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Engineering Program Manager Oliver Slossa told the Agoura Hills City Council that the agency plans an advanced water purification facility next to the BendPak property at 30800 Agoura Road to convert excess recycled water into a potable supply.

Slossa said the facility "will be capable of treating up to 7 and a half million gallons per day of water." The treated water would be sent to Las Virgenes Reservoir, held for a regulated detention time, and then treated again at the Westlake Filtration Plant before entering the potable distribution system.

The project uses Tapia Water Reclamation Facility recycled flows and the district's existing “purple pipe” network to bring source water to the Agoura Road site. Slossa described a treatment configuration that includes reverse osmosis; the project will route concentrate via a long pipeline to a regional salinity-management connection near Hill Canyon. He said the overall construction program requires "a little over 20 miles of pipeline," with the longest segment carrying reverse-osmosis concentrate through Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks to the salinity-management pipeline.

Slossa said the JPA has completed 60% design and is negotiating a guaranteed-maximum price for Phase 2, which he said would bring the design to 100% and include construction. He said the district expects to break ground in April, plans roughly two years of full construction, and estimates project completion around 2030 to allow time for testing, certification and permits.

On environmental mitigation, Slossa said the site contains oak trees that cannot all be avoided. For trees that must be removed, the district plans a 4:1 replacement ratio and "we're looking at replanting over a 140 trees." He told council the district will replant many of the replacement trees on the district parcel and work with city staff to place the remainder on the city's parcel immediately to the south to create a larger oak habitat. Slossa said the first removals will occur in the next few months timed to avoid bird nesting and bat roosting, and that the first replantings are targeted for late 2026 with a five-year establishment period and maintenance provisions.

Council members asked about wildfire and power-safety concerns. Slossa said the site will include limited on-site backup generation to maintain critical systems during public-safety power shutoffs but not complete full-power backup; the roof will be "solar ready" but the district is not installing panels at initial construction and will evaluate solar and battery systems toward the end of the project because technology continues to change.

Slossa and council members also discussed a potential public-benefit area on the western side of the parcel; he said concepts remain under development and that area will likely be used for construction staging early in the project.

The presentation included architectural renderings, an overview of the JPA policy principles that guided design (minimize footprint, preserve natural beauty, coordinate with the city), and a note that the project builds on existing reservoir and treatment infrastructure rather than duplicating facilities.

District staff said they have coordinated with California Department of Fish and Wildlife and city staff on oak and rare-plant mitigation and have recently completed biological surveys to avoid disturbing roosting bats and nesting birds.

Slossa invited council questions; several members expressed support for solar and sustainability features and appreciation for mitigation plans. No council action on the project was recorded in the transcript excerpt of the meeting.