Agoura Hills council gives nonbinding feedback on Toll Brothers' Gateway Church housing prescreen

The Agoura Hills City Council on April 9 reviewed a prescreen application from Toll Brothers and Gateway Church to amend the Lady Face Mountain Specific Plan and the City’s General Plan to allow residential development and a new religious facility at 29646 Agoura Road.

The proposal submitted at prescreen would subdivide the 109‑acre parcel into five lots, reserve about 87 acres as open space, and site 61 for‑sale homes (a mix of single‑family and duplex units) plus a new sanctuary and multipurpose building for Gateway Church. Toll Brothers’ representative said the developer would provide “4 affordable units at very low income for sale” and pay $1,250,000 in in‑lieu fees toward affordable housing elsewhere in the city.

The prescreen is an early, nonbinding step; staff told the council the project has not undergone formal review and would require a specific plan amendment, a general plan amendment, environmental review, a vesting tentative map and other permits if formally filed. Denise Thomas, the city’s community development director, told council the site had been ruled out during prior housing‑element site selection because the state housing department (HCD) judged it…