Hyatt redesign approved
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Big changes are coming to the Hyatt Westlake Plaza thanks to a redesign unanimously approved last week by the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission.

“It was a short hearing for such a big project,” said Planning Commission chairperson Janet Wall.

For more than 20 years the hotel has welcomed guests celebrating weddings, christenings, bar and bat mitzvahs and anniversaries, said general manager Tim Flodin. Universities, businesses and charities have also hosted events at the hotel, he said.

The addition of 68 guest rooms, a 10,680-square-foot ballroom and two parking structures, and a remodel of the pool area and health spa were approved. The new guest rooms will match the recently remodeled rooms and give the Hyatt a total of 330.

The new ballroom will be about the same size as the current ballroom, which holds about 400.

To accommodate the increase in guest capacity, one single-level parking structure is to be built under the new ballroom, adding 60 additional spaces for valet parking.

The other parking structure will be three levels and accommodate 186 vehicles.

If the hotel, office complex and restaurant were operating at full capacity, Wall said, 2,313 parking spaces would be required. City staff, however, recommended 1,638 parking spaces—675 less than code—because it would be unusual for all three operations to be simultaneously full.

Discussion also focused on a 30foot road that’s to be built between two historical oak trees that stand 40 feet apart. One concern was how best to protect the trees; another, according to Wall, was that these particular oaks are a variety that loses limbs, and she questioned if it was prudent to build a road where such potentially dangerous conditions exist.

Pending fire department approval, it was decided the new road, which will provide access for emergency vehicles to circle the property, would be narrowed to 20 feet to better protect the tree roots.

“I would’ve preferred a redesign,” Wall said.

If other large trees to be removed are found to be transplantable, they will be transplanted.

The new additions will match the hotel’s Mediterraneanstyle architecture, using the same materials and colors. The 55-foot height of the hotel will also be maintained.

Hyatt Westlake Plaza and others in the hospitality industry have a new competitor in the Four Seasons Hotel that recently opened in Westlake Village with a health facility, a larger ballroom that can be divided into five salons, and rooms with sunken tubs and plasma TVs.

The additions planned for the Hyatt will help the hotel continue to provide a level of service so it can continue to compete and thrive for the next 25 years, Flodin said.