THOUSAND OAKS : Panel Votes Against Widening of Road

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission has agreed to recommend that a stretch of Reino Road not be expanded from two to four lanes.

The commission voted 4 to 1 Monday night to recommend that the City Council reject the widening. The move would allow the city to add amenities to a half-mile stretch of the roadway north of Potrero Road, including a bicycle path and landscaping.

Cancellation of the road widening is the first of many proposed revisions to the city’s 25-year General Plan forwarded to the commission by the General Plan Review Committee, made up of city officials.

The section of Reino Road, which would have to be rezoned under the commission’s recommendation to keep its two-lane status, connects with a larger four-lane section.

Planning Commissioner Mervyn Kopp, who voted against the proposal, said it could create a safety hazard to keep the roadway as it is. He compared the quick switch from four lanes to two lanes to Kanan Road.

“They told us that Kanan Road had been engineered beautifully, and there are a lot of deaths on Kanan Road,” he said.

City traffic engineers told the commission that the road would safely accommodate future traffic with two lanes.

Commissioner Marilyn Carpenter, a member of the General Plan Review Committee, urged the commission to follow the committee’s recommendation.

“At no time would the committee recommend something that is unsafe,” she said. “And I feel that this recommendation is consistent with the strong views of the community.”

Debate on other recommended changes to the General Plan involving Nedjatollah Cohan’s property along Reino was postponed until March 21.