Planning commissioners narrowly approve permits for development

By Sophia Fischersfischer@theacorn.com

Despite concerns over the impact a proposed housing development may have on traffic, the wildlife corridor and local schools, the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission narrowly approved several permits for the project last week.

Planning Commissioners Daryl Reynolds, Barry Fisher and Tom Glancy voted for approval; Commissioners Janet Wall and Amy Walker-Davis were opposed.

Tone Yee Investments, a Rancho Cucamonga-based land developer, came before the commission last year seeking approval for the development at the intersection of Reino Road and Maurice Drive.

The company plans to build 21 single-family homes on the site, which is situated on slightly more than 11 acres.

One of the issues commissioners expressed apprehension over is traffic coming out of the development onto Reino Road. According to the project’s design, residents would only be able to turn right out of the tract and onto Reino. It is estimated the project will add about 170 additional vehicle trips per day on Reino.

“If you want to go the other way on Reino, you have to do a U-turn on Maurice or at the shopping center,” Wall said. “It’s a very bad place for a project, but I’m not sure that anything can be done.”

Several studies concluded that the right turn would not create safety hazards.

“I’m still concerned, but I have to leave it to the experts that it’s okay to have a right turn out of that street,” Reynolds said.

The project, on the wildlife corridor, eliminates two-thirds of the surrounding undeveloped area. However, much of the open space in the area is fragmented, bordered by existing development, making it too small to accommodate wide-ranging animals like mountain lions.

A 200-foot access area will be retained at the southern border of the project that abuts Potrero Ridge open space. Although consulting firms on the project concluded that the access was adequate, Wall and Walker-Davis felt the developer hadn’t given sufficient consideration to protecting the corridor. Glancy disagreed, pointing out the findings of the two consulting firms.

“At some point all we’re doing is saying we plain don’t want it,” Glancy said. “Mitigation has been addressed adequately enough and I think we may not like it but if that’s what the law is, that’s what the law is. The city has had some experience going against the law and it’s not terribly beneficial or fruitful.”

Wall questioned how local schools, already crowded, will deal with the additional students who may move into the project.

“I’m wondering if we keep approving project after project after project and there is no more room for the children, where do they go?” Wall asked.

The development cannot be denied because of school concerns, said Deputy Community Development Director Marilyn Miller. She added that the school district had several options to accommodate additional students.

The project came before the commission twice, in January 2004 and then again in September. Both times the commission denied the developer’s request, citing concerns that included the density of the project and oak tree encroachment.

The revised project calls for 21 rather than 26 homes, reduces oak tree encroachment from 19 to 11 trees, and plans for the removal/transplant of three oaks.

Original plans also called for Walter Road, a dead-end street in the adjacent Shadow Run tract, to be connected to Reino Road. After Walter Road residents protested, the developer decided to add four homes at the end of Walter Road and turn it into a cul- de-sac.

There’s an appeal time period of up to 20 days.