THOUSAND OAKS : Planners to Review MGM Ranch Plan

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission tonight will review a massive development proposed for the former MGM Ranch that requires an amendment to the city’s General Plan before the project could begin.

At its weekly meeting tonight, the commission is scheduled to make a recommendation to the City Council about the controversial 1,862-acre project that would include 1,000 houses, 400 apartments and a 111-acre industrial park west of the intersection of Lawrence Drive and Rancho Conejo Boulevard.

The City Council has final approval of the project, which has raised concerns among area residents about rapid development despoiling the area’s wildlife.

Seventeen government officials, businesses, groups and residents filed comments to the project’s environmental impact report, including three archeological groups that said the proposed project would destroy a 5,000-year-old Chumash Indian archeological site.

Last week, the commission recommended that the council not approve the environmental impact report, saying the report did not specifically answer questions about potential harm to the Chumash site and wildlife in the area.

In 1989, the council agreed to allow Shapell Industries, Inc. to develop the MGM ranch if the developer set aside 5 1/2 acres for the future relocation of Conejo Valley High School and about eight acres for a school warehouse. Shapell has set aside the acreage for public schools.

In other business, the commission also will consider a proposal by Amgen Inc. to build a $50-million laboratory on the north side of Hillcrest Drive, east of Rancho Conejo Boulevard.