The Westlake Village City Council held the final meeting of the month on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Council members met in chamber to discuss the monthly departmental reports and hold public hearings.
The Sheriff’s Department report for the month of December was delivered by Deputy Brian Knott. During the month December 2019 the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received reports of two robberies, four burglaries, five grand thefts, two petty thefts and nine unlocked cars. The council members did not appear to exhibit a great deal of concern in response to this report.
Knott cites the work of the Lost Hills Sheriff Station for their work in the resolution of the various cases. The department has identified at least four suspects in four different cases Knott said.
The Fire Department’s report was delivered by Chief Mike Brown. During the month of December 2019, the Los Angeles County Fire Department received 69 medical calls. This was an increase from November’s total number of 61. Brown attributes the holiday season for the increase in calls.
“This is usually a busier time as far as the holidays are concerned,” Brown said. “Everybody’s running around, a lot of exhausted people out there shopping for the holidays.”
There were no fire related calls made to the fire department during the month of December. Brown notes that the fire department often receives several calls involving structure fires during the holiday season resulting from electrical equipment such as Christmas tree lights and extension cords.
The council held a public hearing regarding the issuance of permits to rebuild three condominium units and repair one that was heavily damaged during the Woolsey Fire. The application was filed on Nov. 5, 2019 by Jeff Parkhurst on behalf of the Westlake Pointe Homeowners Association.
According to the report presented by deputy city manager, Philippe Eskandar, the homes will be rebuilt in a manner to resemble the other units which were not damaged by the fire.
“These particular homes are being proposed to be rebuilt like-for-like,” Eskandar said. “They’re going in with the same architectural style, same color context and everything else to fit well within the way that the community is designed now.”
The report also discussed an issue which arose during the planning process of the units’ reconstruction. The municipal code of Westlake Village stipulates that the minimum distance between residential buildings should be ten feet. However, a geotechnical study of the site, performed by Advanced Geotechnical Services, identified the presence of artificial fills added to soil to create a level building area. This led the applicants to propose that the space between the buildings be only five feet.
Following the presentation of the report, Mayor Kelly Honig invited the applicant, Jeff Parkhurst, seated in the front row of the chamber along with other homeowners from Westlake Pointe, to say a few words.
Parkhurst began his remarks by offering his gratitude to the council, stating, “To the entire city of Westlake Village and everyone on the council, no equivocation, no buts, we thank all of you for helping us through, as was mentioned, a very, very trying and difficult going on now fifteen months,” said Parkhurst. “It’s been excruciating.”
In the closing remarks, Parkhurst offered his take on the process which he and the homeowners had to endure in order to receive the permit which they sought.
“We have to do something about the rules, the regulations, the permitting, the extraordinary gauntlet that homeowners and HOA’s have to go through to get something done in this state,” Parkhurst expressed. “People are leaving California, businesses are leaving California. Too much oversight, too much regulation.”
The permit passed the City Council unanimously [5-0] and was greeted with applause from both the audience and council members.
Westlake Village will hold its next City Council meeting on Feb. 12, 2020.
