Thousand Oaks city staff and planning commissioners are recommending that the T.O. City Council approve an expansion of Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center on Tues., July 13.

If the council agrees, the hospital will be allowed to add 60 beds, a fourth floor and a 36-foot-tall parking structure. One oak tree will be removed, another transplanted and three more will be encroached upon.

The state requires the hospital to comply with new seismic safety standards by 2013, so the hospital decided to expand while reinforcing the hospital to withstand a major earthquake.

“We have to begin the work before we can ask for a two-year extension,” said hospital spokesperson Kris Carraway-Bowman.

The planning commission approved the Los Robles application on May 24 and certified the project’s environmental report.

Since May, the hospital has had seven community forums averaging six people in attendance, Carraway-Bowman said.

Those attending have said they want more landscaping with trees and less lighting, which the hospital plans to address. They also have concerns about current traffic on Lynn Road, she said.

“It automatically goes to the City Council because the package of applications requires rezoning and General Plan changes,” said community development director John Prescott.

The 375,000-square-foot hospital is approved for 277 beds and has 224. If City Council approves the expansion, the number of beds allowed would increase to 337.

A fourth floor would be built on top of the new three-story wing that was finished in 2007. An additional four-story wing would also be added. The new space would add 232,000 square feet to the hospital.

That doesn’t include the six-story parking structure proposed for the northeast corner of Lynn and Janss roads, which would have two floors below ground and four levels above. There’s currently a surface parking lot there.

“That parking lot will only be for employees,” said Carraway- Bowman.

The council will have to issue a development permit and change the site’s designation from commercial to public lands/ institutional to match the rest of the hospital.

A municipal code amendment is also needed to update the city’s parking space requirement for hospitals from 1.8 spaces per bed to more than 3.5 spaces per bed.

If the city approves the expansion, the state will be in charge of issuing hospital building permits detailing construction of the project. As long as the construction meets the city’s building codes, the city will be out of the process, Prescott said.

The hospital hopes to begin the expansion January 2011 and finish by 2016, Carraway-Bowman said.