Debate over 7-Eleven continues into new year




PROPOSAL—A developer intends to move forward with plans for a 7-Eleven gas station on Moorpark Road at Avenida de Las Flores.

PROPOSAL—A developer intends to move forward with plans for a 7-Eleven gas station on Moorpark Road at Avenida de Las Flores.

Despite pushback from nearby homeowners, a Beverly Hills-based developer is moving forward with plans to build a 24-hour 7-Eleven gas station across the street from Thousand Oaks High School.

Residents who live within 300 feet of the empty lot at Avenida de Las Flores and Moorpark Road were invited to a Dec. 21 community meeting with the developer.

Taylor Megdal, president of Megdal and Associates, fielded questions during the meeting at the Thousand Oaks Community Center near the site of the proposed project. A representative from Back Bays Trust, the company that owns the lot in question, was also present.

Megdal’s real estate development company is seeking to buy the property if it can come up with a plan the city approves.

A handful of neighbors attended the 7 p.m. meeting to express their concerns about the project, many of which centered on the 24-hour nature of the business. Others took issue with the “rolling hot dogs” and other unhealthy food options the establishment would sell.

John Mcloughlin is a real estate broker who lives near the vacant lot. In an email to Conejo Valley Unified school board president Betsy Connolly that was provided to the Acorn, Mcloughlin said a development of this kind provides a legitimate excuse “for the wrong type of people to hang out and have lunch and observe the customers, who effectively will be your students.”

“This is a terrible mistake for the school safety, encouraging students to hang out there and will also encourage criminal activity,” he said.

The proposal calls for a gas station with a “fresh fare” convenience store where 30 percent of the space would feature a selection of healthy options such as sandwiches and fruit. The building would include a surveillance system with 32 cameras that would feed to the T.O. Police Department, Megdal said.

The lot in the 2100 block of N. Moorpark Road housed a gas station for 40 years until it experienced a leak. The owner has cleaned up the soil, and the lot is once again ready for commercial use.

More than 750 people have signed an online petition to stop the project from moving forward.

Because the project sits kitty corner across the street from Thousand Oaks’ flagship high school, Megdal has talked to school administrators to get their opinion on the proposal. Previous plans for the site, including a restaurant and a Starbucks, were rejected after failing to gain support from TOHS administrators.

In an August letter from TOHS Principal Eric Bergmann to the city planner who formerly worked on the project, the administrator endorsed the business staying open 24 hours. Reached for comment, Bergmann told the Acorn that school officials have not taken a stance on the project and his letter was only sent to voice support for the police department’s stated preference for a 24-hour business.

He said the decision to build a 7-Eleven at the site had been made by the time he joined TOHS in February 2018.

Pamela Scott provides representation to both 7-Eleven and Megdal and Associates. She told those at the meeting that gas stations were one of the areas of the retail industry that could still afford to expand.

“We can all wish for something, but we can’t create demand from the sky,” she said.

Megdal’s architect, T.O. resident Neal Scribner, said the next step will include another community meeting before the project goes before the planning commission.

The project was originally slated to go before the commission in October, but Megdal canceled the hearing to have more time to discuss the project with residents. The date of the hearing has not been announced.