City to Decide 2 Key Issues on Planned Amgen Development : Thousand Oaks: The council must rule on design autonomy and how to calculate building height for the 100-acre campus.

Thousand Oaks City Council members will spend the weekend studying two sticky issues in preparation for a public hearing Tuesday night on Amgen Inc.’s development plans.

First, council members must decide how to calculate building height.

Amgen officials are pressing for a formula that would average each face of a given structure. This system would allow one wing to exceed the stipulated height limit, as long as another portion of the building came in shorter.

But the city’s Planning Commission recommended a different standard, urging the council to set an absolute cap on building height and allow no wall to poke up above that limit.

The biotechnology company has proposed creating three zones on its campus. Buildings on the perimeter would be limited in height to 35 feet, while structures deep within the property could reach 55 feet, or in some cases, 70 feet. If the averaging formula is approved, some parapets could reach even higher.

After settling the height issue, council members must resolve an equally knotty problem: how much autonomy Amgen should have in designing and building the interior of its 100-acre campus.

As part of a major expansion expected to add 1,500 jobs in five years, Amgen officials have proposed doubling the company’s office space and adding fresh, state-of-the-art laboratory space.

To speed development, Amgen has requested permission to build structures on the interior of the campus without going through the lengthy--and costly--public review process.

Instead of coming before the Planning Commission for each building, Amgen executives have promised to design their buildings to blend with the surrounding industrial park and with Thousand Oaks’ overall aesthetics. Their architects would be bound by a detailed development plan, which the council will consider during Tuesday’s hearing.

Residents would not have to worry that the biotechnology firm might, on a whim, construct a sprawling pink lab with gargoyles, Amgen executive Ed Bjurstrom said.

“That’s not going to happen. We’re building our home here, and we want it to conform,” Bjurstrom said.

Despite that reassurance, the Planning Commission unanimously rejected Amgen’s proposal to streamline the permit process. Fearful of trampling citizen rights, the commissioners insisted that Amgen follow standard procedures.

But Bjurstrom said he feels confident the City Council will grant exceptions for Amgen, the world’s largest independent biotechnology company.

Indeed, most council members have said publicly that they believe Amgen deserves special treatment because the company pumps money, jobs and prestige into the local economy.

Even Mayor Elois Zeanah, who repeatedly fights to uphold city standards, called Amgen’s expansion plan “a unique project because of their specific needs for laboratories and research facilities.”

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Such comments please Bjurstrom. He said that after working with city officials for two years, he believes Amgen has drafted a plan to match the council’s standards and policies.

“We’re confident it will be approved,” Bjurstrom said.

Bjurstrom’s only concern: that he might have to sit through another grueling hearing. The Planning Commission took 14 hours over two nights to review the Amgen expansion plan.

“I’m praying every night that (the council meeting) won’t be as long,” Bjurstrom said.

Equally eager to avoid a marathon meeting, Mayor Zeanah promised to direct debate toward the main issues of building height and the permitting process.

“I’m going to frame those issues up front and focus on them,” Zeanah said. “The Planning Commission exhausted other issues, and there’s no need for us to rehash them.”