Residents urge infrastructure, evacuation studies before proposed Regency-area housing

Residents at an Agoura Hills City Council meeting raised safety and infrastructure concerns about proposed housing near the former Regency theater site, urging the council to require traffic, evacuation and utility studies before approvals move forward.

The comments, delivered during the meeting's public comment period, focused on limited egress for neighborhoods south of U.S. 101, heavy weekend congestion on Canaan Road, frequent power outages and wildfire evacuation experiences residents said were not reflected in existing traffic studies.

Frank Grieco, a 29-year resident and long-time homeowners association treasurer, said large new housing projects at the Regency site and another nearby parcel would worsen already-congested routes. “Without expanding the infrastructure to handle this housing, it's a death sentence for any of us living in this area,” Grieco said. He asked the council to identify who is doing an infrastructure study and to place the study on a public agenda so evacuated homeowners can comment.

Bruce Bunch, a longtime Agoura Hills resident and local attorney, urged the council to reconsider locating additional units on the south side of the freeway. He said weekend traffic backups are not reflected in weekday-focused studies and that adding large residential projects where school trips and freeway crossings are required could create safety risks for children and residents.

Yvonne Havril, whose property backs onto Canaan Road, said the local electrical grid “is overwhelmed” and described recurring outages. She questioned whether the utility could reliably serve “hundreds and hundreds of more people” without grid expansion and said high insurance costs and the risk of losing coverage compound the problem.

Adler Weiner, chapter lead of 350 Conejo, raised a separate concern about building electrification: he urged the city to persuade the project developer, which he identified as Greystar, to build all-electric housing, noting that Agoura Hills’ previous local reach code requiring all-electric construction had been canceled at the state level.

Other residents — including John Williams and Michelle (surname not specified) — described personal evacuation experiences during recent fires and said those experiences shaped their opposition to further development until infrastructure and safety issues are resolved.

Speakers asked the council to require weekend traffic analyses, confirm utility- and grid-capacity improvements, and schedule a public discussion focused on evacuation routes so homeowners who have been evacuated can testify with relevant data.

Council members did not take formal action on the project during the meeting; the comments were part of the public comment period. Several speakers asked that the city work with homeowners on an infrastructure study and hold a public hearing once that analysis is available.

The public comments tied into earlier staff and intergovernmental updates at the meeting, which included a Council of Governments briefing about Measure M allocations and regional wildfire-prevention grants, showing that fire risk and interagency funding are already part of regional planning discussions.