City Accused of Cutting Its Own Red Tape : Thousand Oaks: Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski says public projects are not held to the same rigorous standards as private developments.

City-sponsored developments slide through the permit process without adequate independent analysis, evading the lengthy reviews required for private projects, Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski charged Monday.

As the most egregious example, Zukowski cited the billboard-size electronic marquee proposed for the Civic Arts Plaza. The council last month approved the marquee, in a 3-2 vote, based on an architect’s sketch and partial model, without input from city staff or planning commissioners.

In contrast, the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall dealers spent scores of hours meeting with the city’s planning staff before even proposing an electronic sign along the Ventura Freeway.

The car dealers spent $50,000 designing the sign, commissioning an environmental impact report and notifying neighbors of their plans. After three marathon public hearings, they received permission to build a greatly scaled-down sign, without the electronic message board.

“So much is required of the private sector,” Zukowski said, “but our projects don’t come under the same scrutiny. I don’t think that’s right. We need to treat all projects equally.”

Zukowski’s critique, which she will bring before the City Council tonight--won immediate support from her longtime ally, Mayor Elois Zeanah.

But her political foes, Councilmen Alex Fiore and Frank Schillo, scoffed at the implication that the city ramrods shoddy projects through the planning process.

“Those two gals--I don’t know where they’re coming from,” said Fiore, who has repeatedly accused Zukowski and Zeanah of tossing out red herrings to alarm the public. “They must have come from a lunar orbit or something. They’re always trying to create doubt and suspicion.”

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In fact, the city’s fast-track permit process for municipal projects is nothing new.

The council decided years ago to take full responsibility for all public buildings, from the library to the teen center to the Civic Arts Plaza, according to Planning Director Phil Gatch.

“It lets the people who are spending the money make the decisions,” Gatch said.

Most private development proposals go first to review by the planning, public works, and building and safety departments. Then the five-member Planning Commission reviews the project to make sure that it complies with the city’s hefty municipal code. The commission’s decision stands unless an appeal sends the project for a public hearing before the council.

Because public buildings are often one of a kind, some council members feel justified in waiving the restrictive standards applied to tract homes and strip malls.

The Planning Commission, however, does not have the authority to deviate from those standards. Only the City Council can approve unique designs, unusual colors or extra height.

Therefore, if a majority of council members favor granting a public building special treatment, the Planning Commission hearing may be moot.

With the Civic Arts Plaza marquee, for example, “the Planning Commission would have said that it does not meet city standards and we would be back to square one,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “We might as well go right to the City Council, where the decision has to be made anyway.”

Such a policy nettles some local developers, who resent jumping so many hurdles while city projects sail through the first steps in the permit process.

“I envy them; I wish I could do things like that,” said Larry Janss, who owns the Conejo Village Bowl and Janss Village shopping center.

But while he would like quicker approval of his ventures, Janss said he recognizes the benefits of submitting all projects, public and private, to rigorous scrutiny.

“There clearly has been a double standard,” he said. “I believe the checks and balances of a well-oiled planning department and building and safety department (do benefit) the public at large.”

Commissioner Forrest Frields, however, said the council members have become expert at the “kinds of tweaking that the Planning Commission would normally do.”

City staff usually gives the council ample briefing on all issues, so regardless of whether the Planning Commission holds a public hearing, Frields said, “I think the end result is probably just as good.”