City Council to hear Costco proposal for Newbury Park

The proposed development of a 154,742-square-foot Costco warehouse store, with a gas station, parking and signage, will go before the Thousand Oaks City Council on Tues., Jan. 13.

Council members will be asked to approve zoning changes to the Specific Plan, including how the roads are configured around the Newbury Park site. The Specific Plan from 1996 expected the roads to change, but, except for widening them, Costco wants to keep them essentially the way they are now, said John Prescott, community development director.

A 1.8-acre parcel of land, now zoned C2 for highway and arterial commercial, is proposed to be changed to C-3, community shopping center, matching the nearby 16.8acre site in the Seventh-day Adventist Specific Plan Area off Wendy Drive, north of the 101 Freeway.

If approved, the Wendy Drive on- and offramps will need to be widened.

Costco also wants to have a service station with eight pumps at the proposed store site, 915 Estates Drive in Newbury Park.

In November 2007, Costco Wholesale filed an entitlement permit application with Thousand Oaks to build the store.

At that time, a Costco regional vice president said the Oxnard and Westlake Village stores had reached their full capacity. He said the Westlake Village store was one of the company's best outlets but it can't be expanded.

The Newbury Park store is expected to have a bigger deli, an expanded fresh foods section and more major appliances, the Costco representative said.

Costco will generate about $600,000 to $750,000 a year in sales and gasoline tax revenue for the city, said T.O. economic development manager Gary Wartik.

It will also bring new jobs, he said.

"It will be more convenient for residents in the middle of Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park," he said. "(Costco offers) gasoline at a dime to 12 cents a gallon cheaper, too."

Sales tax on purchases in Ventura County is 7.25 percent, compared to L.A. County's 8.25 percent, Wartik said.

Copies of the city staff report will be available on Fri., Jan. 9 at city hall, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., or at www.toaks.org. The council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tues., Jan. 13 in the Scherr Forum Theatre at city hall.