Renovation plan for The Oaks mall draws little criticism from citizens
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Only two letters from the public were received by the Thousand Oaks Community Development Department in response to a draft of the Environmental Impact Report on the plan to expand and renovate The Oaks mall.

The 45-day public comment portion of the review process pertaining to the draft Negative Declarations and Environmental Impact Report that began in July ended on Sept. 4 with fewer comments than the last such review 18 months ago on the shopping center project.

"This time we had a very limited response-only two letters compared to 15 letters from the public last time," said Greg Smith, senior planner.

The California Environmental Quality Act requires cities to evaluate the potential effect on the environment of projects such as the proposed new construction at The Oaks, which was built in 1978.

According to the city's website, the project will renovate and expand the mall, adding a total of 230,402 square feet of building area and increasing the number of parking spaces by 555. One Macy's site will be expanded to accommodate a larger Macy's. A Nordstrom and another department store will be added as well as an open-air lifestyle plaza that will include a cinema, four restaurants and additional retail space. There will also be two multilevel parking decks along with more landscaping.

Concerns expressed in the two letters will be included in the final report, Smith said.

"This is such a big deal. I'm surprised more people didn't write," said Tom Ritch, one of the responders.

Upon determining the project may have a significant effect on the environment due to impact on the air quality under a threshold imposed on Ventura County by the Clean Air Act, the Macerich Company that is developing the site may have to pay a mitigating fee, Smith said.

This fee, estimated to be $400,000, is used for funds that provide alternative transit such as buses or lower emission vehicles, Smith said.

Other concerns with the project were eased. For instance, some oak trees will not be removed. Trees that must be removed will be replaced with other trees. Traffic impact could be lessened with the improvement of ramps. Redesign may be a way to minimize the mall's visibility from the freeway, Smith said.

One reason Thousand Oaks resident Ritch responded to the review process was because of the not-so-bicycle-friendly result of the traffic mitigation, he said. "They need to mitigate their

mitigation to put back bicycle lanes that were taken out to add turn lanes to mitigate the traffic," he said.

Ritch emphasized in his letter to the Community Development Department that the project is too big and creates permanent damage to the air.

Wes Macdonald, a 30-year Thousand Oaks resident, wrote to express concern over a reduction in quality of life due to too much noise from the estimated increase in traffic, he said.

"The noise from the traffic is already so loud we can't enjoy breakfast or dinner on our patio," Macdonald said.

Some $13,000 he recently paid for new windows has helped keep the noise outside of his house but has kept him inside if he wants peace and quiet, Macdonald said.

"I might as well live in Alaska. It's ludicrous. The problem needs fixing and it needs to be addressed now," he said.