Parking improvements are coming to the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall.

On Jan. 12, the City Council unanimously authorized $551,500 for a final engineering design intended to fix the insufficient parking problem.

The council also approved an agreement with AECOM Technical Services Inc. of Ventura to create the design and authorized the city manager and city attorney to negotiate an agreement with the owner of the former Courtesy Chevrolet dealership property for how he will pay his share of the final engineering design costs.

In 2009, the council, acting as the redevelopment agency, put $2 million into the agency’s 2009-10 capital improvement budget for costs associated with the auto mall’s parking modifications.

The city and the auto mall agreed to each pay half of the costs for design engineering.

The city will pay $275,000 of the cost for the final design. The auto mall association will pay $75,000. Silver Star dealerships will pay $88,914; Rusnak dealerships, $57,300; Kemp Ford, $9,427; Neftin Mazda & VW, $8,003; Shaver Subaru & Jeep, $6,174; Infiniti of Thousand Oaks, $6,731 and Ladin Lincoln/ Mercury & Hyundai, $10,689. After negotiations with the city, the Courtesy property will pay $12,762.

The estimated cost of adding 364 parking spaces to the auto mall area’s 600 spaces is $8.5 million.

Other design goals for the mall that started up in the 1960s also include making it pedestrian-friendly and updating signs.

Last November, seven of the auto mall property owners agreed to pay their share of the design in cash to avoid having a special tax lien recorded against them.

The property owner of the closed-down Courtesy Chevrolet dealership has agreed to negotiate a separate agreement with the city to pay for its share, according to city officials.

In November, the council organized an ad hoc citizens committee of homeowner associations, area business leaders and other interested residents to provide input on the project’s design.

The final design phase is expected to be completed by September. Construction bids will be received in November. A construction contract is scheduled to be awarded in February 2011 with Phase I of the project to begin in April 2011 and completion by the end of 2011. Phase I is expected to cost $5 million and create 190 new parking spaces.

The 54-acre area with dealerships selling 29 makes of vehicles is in need of a face-lift, council members agreed.

The auto mall—the largest single source of city sales tax— generates 25 percent of the city’s general fund sales tax revenue.