Home Depot is disappointed by council's disapproval

The City Council's decision to not allow a Home Depot to be built on the former Kmart site was clearly a disappointment to the company, said Kathryn Gallagher, Home Depot spokesperson.

"We followed all rules and requirements on this project that the city of Thousand Oaks reviewed extensively over the last four years through two mitigated negative declarations and an environmental impact report," Gallagher said.

Home Depot paid $215,000 in hourly billing for the work by city staff and a consultant on those reports, said community planning director John Prescott.

The company paid a flat rate of about $12,000 for the hundreds of hours staff put into the development permit process. The landmark tree permit was $640. Pre-application fees were in the $2,500 to $3,000 range, Prescott said.

While a flat rate fee based on average costs was used to determine the charge for development permits for Home Depot, a change was made in 2007 to a real-time hourly billing rate for such permits, as used in the EIR, Prescott said.

A typical senior planner charge would be $114 an hour, an associate planner would be $103 per hour, said Mark Town, community planning deputy director.

"The final environmental impact (report) prepared by the city of Thousand Oaks concluded that all environmental impacts including traffic will not exceed city standards or could be mitigated to a level of insignificance in compliance with state law," Gallagher said.

The City Council voted 4-1, with Claudia Bill-de la Peña against, in favor of accepting the EIR.

It then voted 4-1, with Mayor Tom Glancy dissenting, to approve the appeal, overturning the planning commission's approval of the Home Depot development at 325 Hampshire Road owned by Ralph Horowitz Trust and leased to Home Depot.

That decision stopped Home Depot from tearing down the former Kmart store, encroaching upon a landmark sycamore tree and constructing a 97,000square-foot home improvement store that would have included an attached 14,000- square-foot outdoor garden center.

About 300 people filled City Council chambers when the proceeding began.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette counted 53 speakers total, with "26 in favor, 26 opposed and one I don't know."

Glancy noted there were 139 comment cards, with 78 against and 51 for the Home Depot.

Some in favor mentioned how the old Kmart site was a blight and how a new Home Depot store would bring sales tax and jobs that, in this economy, other cities would be thrilled to have.

Some opposed said that light and sound pollution, traffic, the look of a big-box store and the effect it would have on small businesses nearby was intolerable. Nearby child care and senior care facilities would be negatively impacted, they said, and day laborers would be attracted to the site in hopes of getting jobs.

Councilmember Andy Fox said the speakers on both sides were very influential but that constructing a Home Depot on the site would require a zone change, "pure and simple."

Glancy lamented how the state and federal government have tied the city's hands on the day laborer issue.

Glancy also said stretching the C-1 zoning, restricted to neighborhood shopping, had become a habit for the city.

C-1 allows for hardware stores. The Do-it Center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard is zoned C-1.

C-3 zoning is for retailers that would draw from regional, or more than one neighborhood. Janss Marketplace is zoned C-3.

Councilmember Jacqui Irwin said Home Depot was neither compatible with the neighborhood nor in the best interest of small businesses or residents, but she could see something "like a Target" being built there.

Gillette said it wasn't a good fit because of noise and would be detrimental to small business health.

After the meeting Gillette emphasized that Home Depot hadn't resolved concerns over how day laborers would interact with contractors on the site.

Bill-de la Peña said she was pleased the right decision was made by the council members using their best judgment.

The vote denied the development permit. Future building plans must start the entire process again, Prescott said.

"We are currently evaluating our next steps on what to do with the site moving forward, but want to publicly thank the tremendous support local residents and businesses showed for this project," Gallagher said.