Work resumes at T.O. blast site

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers BACK AT WORK—Tom Hale, left, a blasting expert, and Rick Spaur, equipment operator, watch rock being removed from a future shopping center near Erbes Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Work has resumed at the site of a future upscale shopping center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard near Erbes Road, after a new rock-breaking process was adopted.

The site, at 1810 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., was quiet from Oct. 12 until last week while the city of Thousand Oaks and the developer, RDD Properties of Newbury Park, worked out a new plan to complete the project, called Oak Terrace Plaza.

Grading had been stopped due to excessive noise from equipment being used to break down the extremely hard rocky hillside. Nearby residents and business owners had complained for months.

A new, nonexplosive process called Nonex is now being used to break down the rock. Small holes drilled into the rock are filled with a powder cartridge that is then ignited. The force of the detonation causes the rock to split. The procedure causes minimal noise, and nets and metal sheets catch any flyaway rock.

“It’s hardly noticeable,” said Tom Pizza, city engineering division manager. “It’s not like a dynamite blast. It’s more like a thump and a little cloud of dust.”

Nonex was developed in England in 1994. An updated version was brought to the United States in 2004.

Originally, grading had been scheduled to be completed last March, but work was slowed down due to the unexpected hardness of the rock. The city ordered the developer to find other, less noisy ways to do clear the rock. Work was halted on the project several times.

“We are praying and hoping that the grading will be done in four to six weeks,” said Roger Meyer, RDD Properties co-owner. “We just want to make peace with everyone.”

The developer mailed out 1,200 letters last week to nearby residents to keep them updated on the project’s progress. Large signs that will further explain what’s happening will soon be posted at the site.

“We certainly want the developer to complete the project, but we also want to reduce stress on residents,” Pizza said. “It looks like it’s working out.”

The site is a little over 2 acres, more than half of which has been dedicated to the city for use as a greenbelt. The rest will contain an 18,000-square-foot retail center, which will include four to eight stores.

For Meyer, the project has been a headache that he’ll be glad to complete.

“We just want to get this pretty building up so that the city can get their sales tax and I can get some revenue,” Meyer said.