Thousand Oaks : Bond Study Ordered for Circuit City Site

Thousand Oaks has ordered a study on whether the city can issue bonds to buy a parcel of land and raze a controversial new Circuit City store now under construction at the site.

The Thousand Oaks City Council ordered the study early Wednesday morning after 25 people addressed the board in a nearly five-hour hearing on the controversial design of the store.

Opponents have collected about 2,500 signatures from residents who say the stark cinder-block walls of the building at the corner of Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive resemble a prison.

But Councilwoman Judy Lazar said she would not support issuing bonds to pay for the land.

“There are other pieces of land and other needs that are much greater than this,” she said.

Council members declined to halt construction on the project, as requested by many of the speakers who addressed them.

“From a legal point of view, I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop this project,” Councilman Alex Fiore said.

In an attempt to placate angry residents, the council voted unanimously to ask Circuit City to consider lowering the height of the building by up to six feet and to alter its signs to resemble those of The Oaks Mall, which is next to the site.

A Circuit City spokeswoman said the company is reviewing the request.

The company has already agreed to paint the 23,800-square-foot building a darker color and to install a darker shade of clay tile roof so that the building will blend into the landscape.