Planners to Consider Townhouse Project : Thousand Oaks: The proposal calls for 45 multifamily units to be built north of Hillcrest Drive. Neighbors have given support.

A proposal to build 45 multifamily townhouses along Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks has met the scrutiny of nearby residents and will come before the Planning Commission tonight.

The development, which would be built on rolling hills north of Hillcrest Drive near Skyline Drive, would replace two existing homes, one of which was converted recently into a church.

The buildings, with built-in parking garages and a swimming facility, would be located next to an office complex on Hillcrest Drive.

The two existing structures on the property will be demolished, according to a city report.

Representatives of the 200-member Conejo Valley Church of Religious Science said they initiated the development when church leaders realized they no longer had space for the entire congregation.

Tucked on the back of the property, which rests at the foot of a steep, grassy hillside, the church has a tiny sanctuary on the house’s second floor.

“We’ve had standing-room-only services lately and so the congregation agreed to contact builders and this is what we came up with,” said the Rev. David Laughray, a church spokesman. “We think it will be a solid addition to the community.”

The church, which plans to relocate, sold the land to Patriot Builders, a Los Angeles-based developer. It proposed building the townhomes on a portion of the five-acre property.

City officials were not available to comment on the project, but city planners recommended that the Planning Commission approve the project as well as several zoning changes allowing for construction of the homes.

The project’s architect, Francisco Behr, said the developer has cooperated fully with the city’s requests.

“In the end this will actually be a lower-intensity development than all of the buildings that are around this property,” Behr said. “We’ve really bent over backward to comply with everything the city wanted.”

The project, he said, will be built on the more level portion of the parcel, leaving the steep slopes at the rear of the property undeveloped.

And, he said, a portion of the hillside that was scarred during grading for the current structures will be repaired.

Nearby homeowners’ activist Rickie Whitman said that as long as the developer sticks to the plans it presented to the Westlake Hills Homeowners Assn. in March, the group will not fight the project.

“We’re very glad they came to us in advance, and we have the sense from them that this won’t drastically impact us,” Whitman said.

Behr and a representative from Patriot Builders told the group’s board that the homes would be Mediterranean-style and would feature earth tones and tiled roofs, Whitman said.

The group was also assured that no parking would be allowed along Hillcrest Drive, she said.

The project, if approved, will begin construction at the end of this summer.

The townhomes will be priced in the $200,000 range.

A public hearing on the project is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today at the Planning Commission meeting at Thousand Oaks City Hall, 2400 Willow Lane.