City Orders Halt to Work on Road Through Hills

The city of Agoura Hills has put a stop-work order on a permit it issued for a road construction project that has residents questioning whether it should be allowed in a protected open space.

The road, designed to be a secondary access road to a private home, was to be completed by next week, but after hearing residents’ complaints at last week’s City Council meeting, City Manager Dave Adams put a stop to construction until it can be determined whether the work is within city regulations.

“It will allow us to find out what happened,” he said. “There shouldn’t be any building out there or activity until we can figure this out.”

Dean Rasmussen, owner of C.A. Rasmussen Inc. and of the house to which to road would lead, drew fire from local residents for creating a road out of what they said had been a much smaller pathway in hills off Balkins Drive.

Rasmussen declined to comment Monday, other than to say through a spokesman that it was premature to discuss the situation. The spokesman noted that grading had stopped per the city’s order.