Halt Agoura Hills Apartment Development Projects Until Wildfire, Water, and Evacuation Concerns Are Fully Reviewed

Decision Maker

Agoura Hills City Council, Los Angeles County Officials, and Relevant Planning Authorities

Why This Matters

Agoura Hills and the surrounding communities face growing wildfire risks.

At the same time, multiple residential development projects have been proposed or approved throughout the area.

This petition does not seek to permanently stop development. Instead, it requests a temporary pause on residential development projects that have not yet broken ground until wildfire preparedness, water infrastructure, emergency response capabilities, and evacuation capacity have been fully evaluated and publicly reviewed.

Before additional residential growth proceeds, residents deserve confidence that water infrastructure, emergency response systems, and evacuation routes can safely support both existing neighborhoods and future growth during a major wildfire emergency.

Wildfire and Water Infrastructure Concerns

In 2022, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) requested additional State Water Project water because its 122-square-mile service area is classified as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. According to The Acorn, the additional water would have helped maintain fire-resistant landscaping during drought conditions and increase water available for firefighting.

That request was denied in a joint response from the California Department of Water Resources and CAL FIRE.

The same article quoted LVMWD spokesperson Michael McNutt:

"We have water to fight structural fires, but municipal water systems are not designed to handle wildfires."

Additional reporting by FireRescue1 reinforced those concerns. The article reported on California's denial of LVMWD's request for additional water deliveries intended to help mitigate wildfire hazards in high-risk communities. It quoted LVMWD Board President Jay Lewitt, spokesperson Mike McNutt, and former Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby regarding wildfire preparedness, defensible-space requirements, firefighting water supplies, and public-safety concerns. The article further reported concerns that prolonged water shortages could affect the ability to maintain water supplies needed to meet firefighting flow requirements in communities facing significant wildfire risk.

In January 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that LVMWD General Manager Dave Pedersen said the District's largest tank had been drawn down dangerously low while firefighters battled a destructive wildfire.

Pedersen described the situation as:

"Our worst nightmare."

He also stated: 

"A public water system isn't designed to fight a wildfire."
According to the article, Pedersen noted that the investments and upgrades necessary to provide that level of wildfire protection would be costly and difficult.

In 2025, LVMWD issued a Fire Hardening Plan Request for Proposals (RFP). According to the District's procurement notice, the purpose of the plan is to identify vulnerabilities, assess wildfire-related risks to critical water infrastructure, and evaluate improvements that may better protect the system from future wildfire events.

The Fire Hardening Plan is significant because it demonstrates that LVMWD itself is actively evaluating wildfire resilience, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and emergency preparedness within its service area. Until the plan is completed and publicly reviewed, important questions remain regarding water-system reliability, infrastructure resilience, and the ability to support existing residents and future growth during major wildfire events.

Taken together, the District's request for additional water, public statements by LVMWD officials, reporting on wildfire-related stress to the water system, and the ongoing Fire Hardening Plan suggest that wildfire resilience and water-system reliability remain active concerns that deserve careful public review before additional residential growth proceeds.

Evacuation Concerns
Evacuation capacity is another critical public-safety concern.

Kanan Road and Agoura Road serve as primary evacuation routes for many residents of the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding communities. During a major wildfire, these corridors provide critical access to U.S. Highway 101 and other evacuation destinations.

During review of Agoura Hills' 2026 Evacuation Analysis, city materials acknowledged that approximately 2,000 vehicles evacuated from the Santa Monica Mountains during the Woolsey Fire.

However, portions of the City's evacuation analysis assigned approximately 740 evacuation vehicles to Santa Monica Mountains evacuation scenarios.

Independent analysis of publicly available U.S. Postal Service carrier-route data identified approximately 1,200 residences that depend on Kanan Road for evacuation and estimated that as many as 2,761 vehicles could rely on Kanan Road during a major evacuation event.

The difference between the approximately 2,000 vehicles reported during the Woolsey Fire, the 740 vehicles assigned in portions of the City's evacuation analysis, and the higher estimates derived from publicly available residential data raises important questions regarding evacuation demand assumptions and the ability of Kanan Road, Agoura Road, and connections to U.S. Highway 101 to safely accommodate evacuation traffic during a major wildfire or other emergency.

These questions become even more important as additional residential development is proposed along or near key evacuation corridors. The concern is not any single project, but the cumulative impact of multiple residential developments on evacuation demand, roadway capacity, emergency access, wildfire preparedness, water-system resilience, and public safety during future wildfire events.

Concerns regarding evacuation access have also been raised publicly by local residents. In 2025, ABC7 Los Angeles reported on opposition to a proposed residential development in Agoura Hills, where residents expressed concerns about wildfire evacuation routes and the ability of Kanan Road to accommodate additional traffic during emergency evacuations.

What We Are Asking For

We respectfully request a temporary pause on residential development projects that have not yet broken ground, including projects that may already have received approvals, until:

• The LVMWD Fire Hardening Plan has been completed and publicly disclosed, including its findings, recommendations, and any identified infrastructure vulnerabilities.
• Wildfire preparedness, water infrastructure, and emergency response capabilities have been fully evaluated and publicly reviewed.
• Water infrastructure has been demonstrated to safely support existing residents and future growth.
• Evacuation capacity for Kanan Road, Agoura Road, and connections to U.S. Highway 101 has been fully evaluated and publicly reviewed.
• Evacuation planning accurately reflects the number of residents, households, vehicles, and potential evacuation demand within the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding communities.

Before additional residential growth moves forward, Agoura Hills residents deserve confidence that water infrastructure, wildfire preparedness measures, emergency response capabilities, and evacuation routes have been fully evaluated and can safely support both existing residents and future growth.

Residents should not have to wait until the next major wildfire to learn whether critical infrastructure, firefighting water supplies, or evacuation systems are adequate.

Public safety, infrastructure resilience, and emergency preparedness should be fully reviewed before additional residential growth moves forward.

Sources

The Acorn (August 5, 2022): State Rejects Las Virgenes Request for More Water
https://www.theacorn.com/articles/state-rejects-las-virgenes-request-for-more-water/

FireRescue1 (August 9, 2022): Calif. Officials Refuse Request for More Water in Communities with High Wildfire Risk
https://www.firerescue1.com/water-supply/articles/calif-officials-refuse-request-for-more-water-in-communities-with-high-wildfire-risk-8NFUERQthA98Jz7A/

The Wall Street Journal (2025): An Offline L.A. Water Reservoir Has Repeatedly Needed Repairs
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/an-offline-l-a-water-reservoir-has-repeatedly-needed-repairs-5fffb904

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Fire Hardening Plan RFP (2025)
https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/lvmwd/projects/182555

ABC7 Los Angeles: Agoura Hills Residents Push Back on New Housing Complex Over Evacuation Access Concerns
https://abc7.com/post/agoura-hills-residents-push-back-new-housing-complex-evacuation-access-kanan-road/19100788/                                                                

Thank you for taking the time to read and support this petition.

If you agree that these issues deserve careful public review, please sign and share this petition with your friends, family, neighbors, community groups, and on social media. The more residents who participate, the stronger our collective voice will be in encouraging a transparent review of wildfire preparedness, water infrastructure, emergency response capabilities, and evacuation planning before additional residential growth proceeds.