THOUSAND OAKS : Bid for Equestrian Estates Rejected
The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission has turned down a developer’s proposal to build hillside equestrian estates that would have required importing almost 7,000 truckloads of dirt.
The commission voted 3 to 0 Monday against a proposal by Tom Staben to build four estates on 30 acres at the north end of Moorpark Road. Commissioners Mervyn Kopp and Andrew P. Fox were absent.
But the commission decided to allow Staben to submit a new proposal immediately. Developers whose building proposals are rejected by the commission usually have to wait six months before submitting new applications.
Commissioner Irving Wasserman said he was concerned that Staben’s proposal called for importing 96,767 cubic yards of dirt, requiring an estimated 6,912 truck trips.
The massive importing of soil would have violated the city’s hillside development standards, which call for using only soil removed during grading to fill in building lots, Wasserman said.
Staben had planned to use the imported soil to level off the lots, allowing him to create larger lots, said Edward Rinke, assistant planner for the city.
In addition, some of the soil would have been used to build two large berms at the top of the site’s 630-foot-high ridgeline.
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