Agoura Hills hears proposal for 100% affordable housing at 29125 Agora Road; developer cites up to $20 million in state support

Agoura Hills planning staff and developers held an online community forum to present a proposed 100% affordable apartment community at 29125 Agora Road, identified by the city as Site E, and to answer residents’ questions.

"I'm Angela Georgetff, I'm a senior planner here with the City of Agoura Hills," said Angela Georgetff, who opened the meeting and described the project as a key component of the city's effort to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).

Alexa Washburn, chief development officer with National Community Renaissance, said the nonprofit developer is proposing a workforce housing community that pairs on-site management with supportive services and green-building measures. "We are a nonprofit community development organization," Washburn said, describing the group's experience managing affordable housing and noting rooftop solar and LEED targets.

Cynthia Mejia, the developer's project lead, said the site plan presented in the forum envisions a courtyard-style four-story building that steps down to one story at the front. She described a unit mix presented in the slides of 54 total residential homes — 27 two-bedroom and 27 three-bedroom units — with a subterranean parking structure of 81 spaces and community amenities including a community room, playground, laundry room on the ground floor, fitness space and enclosed dog run. Mejia also said the team previously considered a larger concept and scaled the project down from an earlier six-story, 81-unit design.

Mejia stated, "This development includes an up to $20,000,000 investment by the state HCD in response to regional disasters like the Woolsey fire," and said HCD facilitated a NEPA review for the project. The presenters emphasized that the proposal is being reviewed through a ministerial (streamlined) pathway and that the city’s housing-element zoning and overlay tools identify the parcel for affordable housing.

On affordability, presenters used 2025 Los Angeles County AMI figures (the presentation listed $151,500 for a four-person household) as the basis for sample rent and income bands. The developers stated the rents would be set so that households pay about 30% of gross income, and offered an illustrative two-bedroom amount in the presentation of roughly $1,022 at the 30% AMI band; presenters noted rent and income thresholds will be adjusted by the time of lease-up in 2028.

Saundra Bowers of the Hope Through Housing Foundation described on-site supportive services the nonprofit would provide, including "our Building Bright Futures program that is offered to our residents free of charge," financial education, employment support and senior programming.

The forum shifted to chat-submitted questions. Staff and the developer said the project was in predevelopment, with an anticipated start of construction in the spring (as stated by the presenters) and construction concluding toward the end of 2027. They said leasing and move-ins were likely to begin in early–mid 2028 and that the developer will start a pre-application notification program roughly three months before completion.

Residents raised safety concerns about locating higher-density housing in a very high fire severity zone. A commenter cited the Woolsey Fire and warned of evacuation gridlock. Robbie (city staff) replied that an evacuation analysis prepared last year identifies routes and capacity under multiple emergency scenarios, that the analysis was revised after Planning Commission and public feedback, and that it "concludes that all the city's evacuation routes are safe and viable." He also said the analysis was reviewed by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and will return to the Planning Commission on April 16.

On traffic and local impacts, staff said earlier traffic modeling (including evaluation when the project was modeled at 81 units) fell below the vehicle-miles-traveled threshold that would require a formal VMT traffic impact study under CEQA guidance; they also said the development will pay impact fees for schools and special districts. The team clarified the property will be rental apartments and not subject to homeowners association rules; on-site property management will enforce lease rules, parking permits and towing for unauthorized vehicles.

Property manager Chris Paez described the leasing process: pre-applications and a lottery, income verification, screening, occupancy minimums and assigned parking (one stall per household). He said for applicants with variable income the team typically reviews profit-and-loss or bank statements and may look back two to three years when verifying income for independent contractors.

Staff and developers offered additional program details (unit square-foot ranges listed in the presentation were about 745 sq ft for two-bedroom units and about 1,016 sq ft for three-bedroom units) and confirmed accessible units and ADA compliance will be met. They encouraged residents to sign up for updates on the developer’s project webpage and to attend the April 16 Planning Commission hearing on the evacuation analysis.

Next steps: the project remains under ministerial review with state HCD involvement; the evacuation analysis will be on the Planning Commission agenda April 16; the developer will open a project webpage and email list for pre-application notices as construction nears completion.

For follow-up, residents were directed to city planning staff and the developer’s forthcoming web page for application notifications and more detailed AMI/rent tables.