Developer Wins Approval for Industrial Park

A developer who was criticized last year for bulldozing 104 eucalyptus trees on his Thousand Oaks property recently received permission to build an industrial park on the site.

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission last week approved a proposal for a 13-building industrial center at the north side of Old Conejo and Reino roads.

Davis Developments, owned by Bill Davis, will construct the Thousand Oaks Commerce Center to house businesses in buildings ranging in size from 8,000 to 37,000 square feet.

A building permit issued to the land’s previous owner barred any tree removal but was not in effect when Davis bought the property, said attorney Charles Cohen, who represents Davis. Davis wasn’t familiar with the policies and had been wrongly informed by a city employee that he was free to remove the trees, Cohen said.

Davis has agreed to pay the city $150,000 and landscape the site, Cohen said.

Planning commissioners were mainly concerned about how the $25-million project would look from the Ventura Freeway.

“I am appalled at the idea that we will be looking at rooftops,” said Marilyn Carpenter, the only commissioner who voted against the project.

“You’re talking about two or three seconds, and that’s only if you happen to be looking in that direction,” said Planning Commissioner Forrest Frields, who supported the project.