135-unit expansion of Avalon Calabasas returns to planners Play

Plans to enlarge a big apartment building at the top of Malibu Canyon are reemerging in the City of Calabasas.

A development company wants to add 135 new apartments to the existing 600-unit apartment complex called Avalon Calabasas, near the traffic light at Las Virgenes Road at Lost Hills Road. This is the first traffic light that you hit in Calabasas, heading north out of Malibu Canyon.

The new construction would consist of nine buildings on what the company calls "underutilized portions of the property." In other words, parking lots would be converted into 135 new apartments, with underground parking for the entire 735-unit new complex.

Opponents are saying it's a very high fire risk area, as Malibu Canyon and Las Virgenes Road are already over capacity. There are big worries about fire evacuations from Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains.

If this sounds familiar, it should be. Not only have versions of this project been proposed and rejected in Calabasas, but a similar battle is underway in Agoura Hills at the top of Kanan Road.

The Avalon Calabasas project goes before the Calabasas Planning Commission Thursday night.