City spends $96,500 for consultant to help The Lakes

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers LOOKING FOR SUPPORT—The Lakes shopping center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, adjacent to the Civic Arts Plaza and city hall, offers shopping and dining. The city has hired a consultant to help the shopping center become more successful. The City Council voted to spend $96,500 for a consulting firm to find ways to make a successful shopping center more successful.

The Lakes shopping center is a partnership between its developer, Caruso Affiliated, and the city. It opened in 2005 on cityowned property next to the Civic Arts Plaza on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

The Thousand Oaks City Council at its April 7 meeting voted 4-1 to provide the funds for consultants to help the developer increase revenue.

City Manager Scott Mitnick said the center could be performing better.

After the meeting, Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña, the only dissenting vote, said it isn't fair to help one developer and not another when everyone is hurting during tough economic times.

"I hear people say that the stores are simply too expensive at The Lakes for many families," Bill-de la Peña said.

When the council originally voted to approve building The Lakes, Bill-de la Peña voted against it because she wanted something more family oriented, such as a family center.

At the council meeting, she said her instincts were validated when an expert noted that families come to The Lakes for the play area.

After the meeting, Councilmember Dennis Gillette said the shopping center is part of a "three-legged stool": the Civic Arts Plaza and the Gardens of the World are two legs and businesses on the boulevard the third leg.

"The area was originally going to be a Target, a big box . . . then a hotel with conference center or an office building. A new post office was talked about until the Duesenberg (Drive) site was chosen," Gillette said.

He said he didn't want to put the blame on decisions made by a previous council that cut the size of the project even though experts warned doing so would hurt its success.

Gillette was a part of that council.

"Right or wrong, I don't like to second-guess. I would have done it differently," Gillette said.

Mayor Tom Glancy, a new council member, said it was a problem that can be laid at the feet of the previous council.

Bill-de la Peña said the council that approved the project "knew what it was getting into." She was on that council and voted against what she called the "$12-million gift to a developer."