Agoura Hills planning commission backs safety‑element update, forwards evacuation analysis to council with requests for further study

The Agoura Hills Planning Commission on Thursday voted to recommend the City Council adopt a general plan amendment updating the table of contents and the safety element to incorporate the city—s evacuation plan and a new evacuation analysis.

The recommendation, approved 3–0 with one abstention, forwarded staff—s findings that the evacuation analysis meets state requirements while asking the council to consider an additional midday scenario and stepped-up communications coordination with school districts and neighboring jurisdictions.

Why it matters: The update is meant to align Agoura Hills— safety planning with a recently amended, multi‑jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan used by the Las Virgenes/Malibu Council of Governments and reviewed by state and federal agencies. Staff and outside consultants told commissioners the report models full buildout and large cross‑jurisdictional evacuation flows and identifies where operational measures will be needed to keep traffic moving during a large wildfire evacuation.

What staff presented: Denise Thomas, Agoura Hills community development director, said the safety‑element amendment is necessary to incorporate the amended regional hazard mitigation plan and to add the evacuation analysis and evacuation plan as appendices. Thomas said the city—s evacuation plan was first adopted in 2020 and updated in 2022 and that it was used during recent fire responses when the city—s emergency operations center was activated.

Matt Stewart, the city traffic engineer, summarized the modeling approach. The…