Costco hits a snag with land owner

Costco Wholesale has withdrawn its application to build a store in Newbury Park.

The proposed development of a 154,742-square-foot Costco warehouse store with a gas station, parking and signage, was taken off the agenda for the Thousand Oaks City Council meeting of Tues., Jan. 13 after Costco sent the city a letter on Jan. 12.

"As you know, Costco does not own the subject site. Despite substantial efforts, we have been unable to finalize a lease for the site," said Michael Okuma, Costco director of real estate development, in the letter.

The letter didn't specify if efforts to finalize the lease were ongoing or stopped.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church owns the property and didn't withdraw its applications. The SDA and Costco applications to the City Council were intertwined, so Community Director John Prescott recommended the city postpone the hearing until city staff determines if changes to the Specific Plan are still desirable.

Staff members have done a lot of work in response to the applications to bring Costco here, but it's been paid for by fees already submitted by SDA and Costco, said city senior planner Claudia Pedroso.

For example, Costco paid $30,000 for a special use permit, $30,000 for a development permit, $3,600 for an oak tree permit and $12,000 for a mitigated negative declaration. The church paid $10,000 for a tract map major modification, $6,000 for a Specific Plan amendment and $6,000 for zone changes.

Residents who dislike big box stores may be cheering, but others were looking forward to the tax revenue, jobs and lower gas prices a Costco would bring to the area.

When Costco first filed an entitlement application, store representatives said the Westlake store was doing so well it had reached full capacity. Since Costco couldn't expand in Westlake Village, company representatives said they needed another store in T.O. near the 101 Freeway and Wendy Drive. The new store was going to offer a bigger deli area, more fresh foods and major appliances.

Costco was expected to generate about $600,000 to $750,000 a year in sales and gasoline tax revenue for the city and new jobs, said city economic development manager Gary Wartik.