Mobil Drops Plan for Thousand Oaks Station

Surrendering to strong community opposition, Mobil Oil Corp. has dropped plans to build a gas station in Thousand Oaks’ Oakbrook Village neighborhood.

“We just don’t feel like we would be successful in pursuing it further,” Mobil spokesman Barry Engleberg said.

Mobil ran into a wall of neighborhood opposition last month at a public hearing before the Planning Commission. Nearly 100 people showed up to protest the proposed station that had been planned for the southwest corner of Avenida de Los Arboles and Erbes Road.

Residents also presented the commission with a petition signed by 431 homeowners opposed to the project.

“Market analysis is one thing,” said resident Steve Lacey, in claiming victory over the oil giant Tuesday. “But I think it would have been better if they had asked what the people wanted.”

What the residents didn’t want was a gas station in their neighborhood--no matter how aesthetically pleasing it might be.

Mobil had gone to extra lengths to ensure that the station’s architectural design fit in with the neighborhood.

Plans called for the station to be painted a soft sandstone color and to include such amenities as a red-tiled roof, wooden beams and planters. The building would also face away from the intersection and would be surrounded by shrubbery and flower beds.

But residents were not impressed.

“They tried a lot of cosmetic work,” Lacey said. “But it was still a gas station. I don’t care if they planted a million trees. There would still be emissions, and there would still be a traffic problem.”

At the Planning Commission hearing April 29, residents showered the panel with complaints about how increased traffic and noise generated by the station would diminish their quality of life as well as their property values.

They also pointed out that the city already had several unsightly street corners with closed service stations and said they were afraid Mobil would join the list.

The Planning Commission agreed that the Mobil station was inappropriate for the neighborhood and rejected the company’s application for a special permit. While the property is zoned for commercial development, gas stations require a special permit from the city because they handle combustible materials.

Despite the Planning Commission’s decision, Mobil had the option of appealing to the City Council but chose not to do so.

Residents said they were prepared to stage further demonstrations, including a boycott against Mobil gas stations, in the event of an appeal.

“Now I won’t have to cut my Mobil credit card in half,” resident Peter Wendel said. “I can start using it again.”

Wendel said he was pleased that residents did not have to resort to such actions to protect their neighborhood. He said tough development standards set Thousand Oaks apart from other cities.

“This is a special community because it is concerned with quality of life for its residents, and it plans its growth accordingly,” Wendel said. “I’m not against development per se. I just believe that in this case a gas station would have been incompatible with the surrounding residential neighborhood.”

Lacey agreed, adding that the whole issue has brought the community closer.

“The main thing is that the community banded against the project,” he said. “It shows what can happen if everybody stands up and speaks out.”