THOUSAND OAKS : City to Expedite Plan to Subdivide Plant

Overriding two councilwomen’s concerns about favoritism, the Thousand Oaks City Council on Wednesday agreed to fast-track a proposal by Northrop Corp. to subdivide its huge Newbury Park plant.

By a 3-2 vote, with Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski dissenting, the council agreed to speed up consideration of Northrop’s plan to sell separately each of its four buildings in the Rancho Conejo Industrial Park.

“This means business and jobs to the community,” Councilman Alex Fiore said. “We’ve got to get those buildings filled.”

But the council also decided to put Northrop’s request to subdivide its undeveloped acreage into 24 parcels on the back burner, because that project was considered less urgent.

Splitting the buildings into separate parcels “would give us a lot more flexibility to market the property,” said Don Clay of Northrop, which for years was the city’s biggest employer. He listed several companies that have expressed interest in purchasing individual buildings but could not afford the entire 100-acre property.

The Northrop subdivision joins about a dozen other projects on the planning department’s priority list, including proposed Janss Mall renovation and numerous Amgen development projects. Northrop offered to pay city staff overtime to expedite consideration of its request.

“We’ll fit it in as best we can,” Planning Director Phil Gatch said.

But Zeanah and Zukowski objected to the idea of letting Northrop cut in line and receive attention ahead of the small-business owners who have filed requests and are waiting their turn.