Old Agoura's Historical Challenges

In case you missed the 2025 Old Agoura Annual BBQ party, here's a visual display and recap of the the developmental pressures the neighborhood has faced over the years. If not for the OAHA, the neighborhood would be a very different community today. Watch the video of the poster display; the text is included below.

OLD AGOURA’S  HISTORICAL CHALLENGES

1967 Los Angeles County moved to remove livestock zoning with a zoning initiative to repeal Old Agoura’s farm animal keeping rights. This inspired the creation of the Old Agoura Homeowners Association.

1973 A new Federal prison was proposed to be constructed on the Chesebro Meadow. 

1978 The Old Agoura Homeowners Association was formalized as a California  Nonprofit Corporation with 26 members and lobbied Congress Member Beilenson to create the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

1981 A developer planned to extend Thousand Oaks Boulevard east to Chesebro and turn Driver into a 4-lane thoroughfare, but was defeated.

1981-1988 Residents and the OAHA battled to close Medfield, an illegal road between the Derry Industrial Park and Lewis Road.  

1982 The City of Agoura Hills was incorporated, and school teacher Fran Pavely became the first Mayor before later becoming our State Senator.

1982-1988 The OAHA battled the Oren development (70 acres of commercial development, 226 homes, and 162 condos were proposed in Old Agoura).

1982-1999 Potomac Investment Associates joined Ahmanson Ranch development (a proposed city at the north end of Las Virgenes Road that called for Victory Boulevard to be extended from the Valley and connected to Thousand Oaks Boulevard). The OAHA joined Save Open Space* and the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation** to help end the threat. The parkland created in 2003 became part of the Upper Las Virgenes Open Space Preserve, a critical ecological linkage and wildlife corridor in the Santa Monica Mountains.

1984 A proposal for the construction of a County jail on the Oren property was defeated by the OAHA and residents of Agoura Hills.

1984 The Mayer Group complex, with 109 apartments by the Old Agoura Park, was turned away.

1984 Another attempt to turn Driver Avenue into a 4-lane thoroughfare with a connection to Thousand Oaks Boulevard at Easterly Drive was defeated. 

1984 The OAHA was heavily involved with the creation of a General Plan for Agoura Hills with a zoning overlay for Old Agoura to preserve and protect the neighborhood.

1986-1987 Potomac Investment Associates proposed a land swap with the SMMNRA to develop Chesebro Meadow and build an access road through Old Agoura to Ventura County at China Flat, where Bob Hope hoped to develop the Jordan Ranch in Palo Comado Canyon, and to build 1850 homes with a PGA golf course.

1987 The OAHA hosted a BBQ fundraiser for the first Old Agoura signs. After their construction at both gateways of the neighborhood, the BBQ became an annual event.

1990 Another Potomac Investment project (87 acres of development next to Cheeseboro Canyon—now National Parklands) was defeated.

1990-1994 Malibu Terrace (494 acres along the freeway from Las Virgenes Road) called for the extension of Thousand Oaks Boulevard as a four-lane road from Las Virgenes to Cheeseboro park boundary. OAHA joined the fight to defeat it. 

1992 The extension of Driver Avenue to Liberty Canyon was halted.

1995 A 5.5-acre amusement park with go-karts, bumper-boats, mini-golf, and a 15,000 s.f. video arcade on Canwood Street was defeated.

1995 The Old Agoura Equestrian Park opened, thanks to Old Agoura Homeowners Association and its residents.

1995 A Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy plan to sell parkland along both sides of Chesebro Road was defeated.

1995-2023 The OAHA joined SOS to oppose a 17-acre Heschel School campus on a land-locked parcel behind the homes on lower Chesebro Road in a historic wildfire path (and that of the Woolsey fire in 2018). The OAHA engaged in legal battles to protect the important wildlife corridor land until it was purchased by the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority as permanent parkland. Dedicated in 2023 to the first mayor of Agoura Hills, it’s now known as the Fran Pavley Meadow.

1999-2002 Riverwalk, a thinly-veiled Wal-Mart center, was rejected (now the Shops at Oak Creek and Trader Joe’s).

2025 The wildlife overpass at Liberty Canyon is now being completed over Agoura Road. Old Agoura’s success in preventing development over the years helped save the meaningful effect necessary for the wildlife migration connectivity that the new bridge will provide.

TODAY The OAHO continues to review government and development movements that directly impact our tranquil and rural way of life. Your generous support allows for the ongoing and constant vigilance. 

See history photos on the Old Agoura Flickr page.

*Save Open Space remains active in our community.

** Jess Thomas, current OAHO president, was also president of the Federation for several years. He has been a key leader in the Agoura HIlls community for over 50 years.