Home Depot still wants to open in the Kmart site

Definitions of hardware stores and home improvement stores need to be more exact in the city of Thousand Oaks because Home Depot has filed an application calling for city approval of a home improvement store at the old Kmart site.

The city staff, in response, has asked the City Council to exactly define what a hardware store is, especially when compared to a home improvement store.

Earlier this week, on Tues., June 9, a City Council agenda item that would have initiated a change in zoning was pulled without comment.

The zone change might have helped explain the definition of a hardware store.

That same agenda item also included adoption of an urgent 45day moratorium that would have stopped applications, permits and licenses for all new hardware stores, a maneuver that would have blocked Home Depot from making renovations and occupying the old Kmart.

"A moratorium is a drastic step—it's not something we do lightly," said City Attorney Amy Albano.

She said a moratorium is the equivalent of using a sledgehammer when a chisel would do.

"The city has always taken the position that Home Depot just can't come in and reuse the existing store," Albano said.

Cleaning up zoneuse definitions probably won't take the place of a moratorium—something that's rarely used in Thousand Oaks, said Andrew Powers, city spokesperson.

"A moratorium can be perceived as impeding the free market," Powers said.

Building plans were filed by Home Depot with the city on May 20. They were accompanied by a building permit application to allow the home improvement store to occupy the existing Kmart building.

City staff called for the City Council to adopt a resolution declaring its intention to change city code, which would have helped define hardware stores.

Hardware stores are currently allowed at the old Kmart site that is zoned C-1 for neighborhood shopping centers.

The definition of a hardware store has changed over time, and it needs to be cleaned up— along with other definitions, such as "What is a drugstore?" Albano said.

Drugstores also need updated definitions since they're no longer little street corner shops with one pharmacist helping people with prescriptions. Those kinds of drugstores usually included a soda fountain.

"Drugstores are not fully defined in our code, and now some have become mega shops," Albano said.

The same problem exists with defining hardware stores. The city needs to distinguish between small hardware stores with household "fix-it" supplies in contrast with large regional home improvement stores that sell large appliances and all types of construction materials.

The former Kmart building has about 109,000 square feet, while the Doit Center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, zoned C1, has less than half that space; about 41,500squarefeet, according to community development director John Prescott.

C-3 zoning is for retailers that would draw from a region, which is more than one neighborhood. Janss Marketplace, for example, is zoned C-3.

On April 9, the council stopped Home Depot from building a new 97,000squarefoot store with a 14,000squarefoot outdoor gardening center after Home Depot representatives worked with city staff for four years designing a building that would have replaced the old Kmart site with a level parking lot, more landscaping and other improvements.

The planning commission approved those plans, but the City Council voted in favor of an appeal that reversed the planning commission's approval.

Some residents at that meeting said the old Kmart site was blight and spoke in favor of a new store that would generate sales tax revenue and jobs.

Opponents said light and sound pollution, traffic and the economic impact on small businesses nearby was intolerable.

Most of the City Council agreed for the need of a zone change before Home Depot could proceed.

Mayor Tom Glancy was the only council member to vote in favor of Home Depot.