Representatives of Home Depot explain their plan to a very small audience

SURROUNDED BY HOME DEPOT EXPERTS- Cheryl Tabbi of Westlake Village was one of the residents who came seeking information about the proposed Home Depot in Thousand Oaks. An architect, attorney and two real estate experts provided by Home Depot provided information about the plan. Though publicized by posters and 5,500 mailers, Home Depot's community open house on Saturday attracted only about a dozen people. The company provided professionals to answer questions and get feedback about the proposed store on 325 Hampshire Road.

Those who did attend got lots of personal attention from architect Mario Tutino, real estate manager Rick Greene and others who came with laptops and large displays to explain their intentions for the site in T.O. where Kmart used to be.

Some came to show support for a Home Depot in Thousand Oaks. The home improvement store already has locations in Newbury Park and Simi Valley and one planned for Moorpark.

Cheryl Tabbi of Westlake Village and others came to ask them not to build the store.

"I came here today hoping to convince them to sell it," Tabbi said.

"That's not up to us," Tutino said.

What he was prepared to do was listen to specific concerns and explain with scale drawings what was planned.

One of Tutino's pictures depicted a Home Depot dramatically lower than the former Kmart building. Compared to the view of the Kmart surroundings, more of the hills in the background were visible.

The wall in front would be changed to smaller layered walls with lots of landscaping, the picture showed. Driveways would be widened. The store's front appeared altered from other Home Depot designs to avoid the "big box" look. Gone was the steeply sloped parking lot out front where carts would go flying onto Hampshire Road when customers let go of them.

The slanted parking lot must be leveled because Home Depot customers often leave the store with large, heavy loads, repre

Only about a

dozen people turned out to heaHome Depot's

proposal for the former Kmart site sentatives said.

The Home Depot agents were ready to combat what they called myths, trying to convince residents that the light fixtures proposed for the site wouldn't glow in the sky because they would be shielded at property lines to prevent spillover.

In a handout prepared for attendees, they also claimed that an environmental assessment determined no soil remediation from the previous automotive center is necessary at the former Kmart automotive site.

The handout also stated, "The proposed store meets the city's height standard of 35 feet."

That means some of the building is lower than 35 feet, but according to Home Depot spokesperson Kathryn Gallagher, the maximum building height located on the parapet above the main entrance is 42 feet, 2 inches.