An application to build an executive office park was reviewed again by the Thousand Oaks City Council recently, and this time it was approved.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette, who was absent the first time a vote was taken on the project, cast the vote needed to pass the proposal.

The project, a medical/commercial office campus on nearly 14 acres on the north side of Old Conejo Road, had come before the council on July 12. At that time, a vote of 2-1 by the three present council members was inadequate to approve a zone change for the project.

Ordinance changes require at least three votes to pass. Mayor Claudia Bill-de la Peña voted against the change, citing traffic concerns. She was the sole opposPlans OK’d oning vote again last week.

“It’s very difficult for me, personally, to approve a project without funding in place for infrastructure,” Bill-de la Peña said.

The mayor was referring to the widening of the Wendy Road freeway bridge to accommodate increasing traffic in the area once the city reaches buildout. There are plans to eventually widen the Wendy Road freeway bridge sometime in the next several years but no timetable has been set.

Anticipated cost of the bridge construction is $11 million. To help cover the cost, a federal grant of $8.5 million has been requested and $5.6 million tentatively approved. The remainder of the money would be picked up by the city and by the developer of the medical office park, Wendy Road Storage LLC.

A portion of the property was zoned for a shopping center and needed approval from the council to make a change. Creating a commercial office zone would bring less traffic congestion to the area than a retail complex, said Gillette.

“Reduced density on the project is what we want to accomplish at that site,” Gillette said.

The project would create a campus-like setting of 10 medical office buildings and 20 commercial office buildings to be sold individually as condominiums. The units will allow professionals, including doctors, lawyers, engineers and architects, to purchase offices of their own.

The three vacant parcels have been undergoing decontamination of solvents and heavy metal residue from previous manufacturing operations of the Talley Corporation, which operated an industrial metal plating facility on the site until about 1989. Health hazards no longer exist on the site, according to city staff.