Appeal of plan for Home Depot to be heard next Tuesday

The decision on whether to allow a Home Depot to be built in Thousand Oaks will be made during a special City Council public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Tues., March 31 at City Hall.

The council will hear an appeal to the planning commission's Jan. 26 decision to allow the demolition of the former Kmart store, the construction of a new Home Depot and the encroachment into the protected zone of a landmark tree.

Copies of the staff report on the hearing will be available beginning tomorrow, March 27, at City Hall, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., and on the city's website at www.toaks.org.

According to the public hearing notice put out by the city, anyone who may later challenge this matter in court could be limited to raising those issues brought up during the public hearing or in a letter delivered to the City Council before the hearing.

For more information, call Lori Young of the community planning department, at (805) 449-2319.

The appeal was made to the council by Thousand Oaks residents who said there is no reason or need for a second Home Depot in Thousand Oaks. They oppose the building of a 97,000-square-foot store with an attached 14,000square-foot outdoor garden center at 325 Hampshire Road.

"Home Depot is the wrong use and, with its unimpressive box design, the wrong project at this important gateway site," the appeal said.

The new store, according to the appeal, would be an unattractive, unwelcoming image that would add noise, traffic, and light and air pollution and would mean the loss of a neighborhood shopping center where nearby residents could shop for groceries, medicine and other necessities.

Proponents of Home Depot claim the new home improvement store will bring more tax revenue and jobs to the area.