THOUSAND OAKS : Council Won’t Cut Developer’s Fees

The Thousand Oaks City Council has rejected a developer’s request to reduce its permit and processing fees for a slightly revised housing project it proposes to build in Newbury Park.

The council voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to reject Raznick & Son’s request to reduce the $6,500 in fees that it will have to pay for city staff to process its new proposal. Councilman Alex Fiore voted to support the developer’s request.

But his colleagues said reducing the fees was not standard practice and doing so would only encourage other developers to make similar requests.

Raznick had originally proposed to build 92 houses on a 44-acre parcel just west of Lynn and Reino roads. But the plan was rejected by the council by a 3-2 vote in September after neighbors complained it was too dense and would not fit in with their neighborhood.

Councilman Frank Schillo, who voted against the project, said during the public hearing in September that he could support the development if Raznick eliminated some of the houses.

As a result, the developer plans to resubmit plans to the city next week with a new proposal that calls for cutting three houses out of its development and increasing the size of lots adjacent to a wetland area to 6,500 square feet.

Ellen Michiel, a Raznick official, said because there were only minor changes to the original project design the new proposal would not require a lot of staff time, and should be less expensive to process.

“We were disappointed,” Michiel said of the council’s decision. “We felt we had a good reason.”

Schillo asked staff to keep track of the hours spent on processing the Raznick proposal to see if there was any justification for a possible refund.