The expansion plan for Los Robles Hospital was criticized by a resident at Tuesday night’s council meeting. The opponent said the city of T.O. had been blindsided by a Ventura County plan to build medical clinics at the Borders Bookstore site on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mark Glazer compared the city’s surprise to Thousand Oaks residents’ reactions when they learned about expansion plans of the local hospital.

“Apparently our city was kept in the dark about what the county was up to. The city can now understand what the residents feel like, being left out of the loop of the planning stages,” Glazer said.

His words, on behalf of himself and other residents, apparently made no difference in the council’s decision as they rubber-stamped the city staff’s recommendations.

Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center will be allowed to expand, including adding 60 beds, a fourth floor and a 36-foot-tall parking structure.

Council members voted 3-0 to approve the proposal after Mayor Dennis Gillette and Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Pena both left the room. Gillette had a conflict of interest because he lives within 500 feet of the hospital. Bill-de la Pena was legally allowed to vote, but didn’t vote because her husband is a doctor at the hospital.

The state requires the hospital to begin to comply with new seismic safety standards by 2011. Hospital officials decided to build new facilities to meet safety standards instead of retrofitting the old structure. The corporate headquarters of Los Robles are based in Tennessee.

The council chambers were filled almost to capacity with more than 60 people waiting to publicly speak for two minutes each.

Those against the expansion said the hospital was using the state’s seismic requirement to create urgency. Their issues included lighting, air quality, visual blight, traffic and noise.

The 375,000-square-foot hospital is approved for 277 beds and the number of beds will now 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.

There will also be a six-story employee only parking structure with two floors below ground and four levels above.

In addition to saving lives of those who are ill or injured, Los Robles Hospital currently employs 1,466 employees, pays $126 million in salaries and benefits and $2.2 million in property and sales taxes annually.

The expansion will increase those amounts, benefiting the community and tax-funded initiatives, said hospital president Greg Angle.