Concerns Over Soil Delay Hearing : Newbury Park: The January quake prompts some Thousand Oaks officials to question the stability of site proposed for housing project.

Concerns that land slated for a major Newbury Park development may be unstable have prompted Thousand Oaks city planners to delay hearings on the 89-house project, officials said Wednesday.

The city has asked Raznick & Sons Inc., a Woodland Hills company that has long tried to build on 44 acres near Reino and Lynn roads, to conduct a study of the soil for evidence of liquefaction, said Bob Rickards, a senior city planner.

The Jan. 17 earthquake spurred concerns from some city officials about the stability of the land. Newbury Park residents opposed to the project have been pushing since fall to require such a study.

If the soil is found to be unstable, the land would not be safe for construction without additional grading and special foundations for housing built on the site, Senior City Planner Greg Smith said.

The setback comes in the wake of several delays for the developer, primarily resulting from public opposition to the project and the existence of a wetland on a portion of the property.

Raznick was scheduled to present a scaled-back plan to the Planning Commission when the city requested the soil study.

“We’re not kicking and screaming about it,” said Ellen Michiel, assistant vice president of Raznick & Sons. “We believed that the studies we had already done were adequate, but a new study will put us in the position of having the most up-to-date information.”

But gathering that information will mean added costs and delays for the project, Michiel said.

“There’s no question this is going to be a major expense for us, especially given what has gone into this project already,” she said.

The company initially intended to begin construction on the property in 1990, three years after purchasing the land from developer Nedjatollah Cohan. But the project was stalled by state and federal regulators concerned about the impact of 98 residences on the nearby wetland.

Raznick then faced the opposition of local residents, who argued that the project was too dense for the neighborhood.

In September, the City Council narrowly rejected the project because of its density and its potential threat to the wetland. At that public hearing, residents raised the new issue of liquefaction, bringing along an expert to explain the potential threat.

“We heard the concerns of the public at that meeting, and we’ve decided that before we proceed, we should take the extra steps necessary to make certain there’s not a problem,” Smith said.

In addition to the public outcry, Rickards said the quake rekindled the city’s concerns about liquefaction on the property and spurred the new study.

“They had a study prepared before the quake, but we felt it would be a good idea to revisit the issue in case anything has changed as a result of all the ground movement,” he said.

City officials said a similar study will also be required of Cohan, who has been trying for 12 years to develop the 45-acre parcel directly adjacent to the Raznick property.

Cohan’s son, Albert Cohen, said Wednesday that he had not been told about the additional study.

“We no longer have any clue what that city wants from us,” Cohen said. “Every day, it’s something new.”

Rickards said public demand and safety concerns require the city to ask for the study, despite the additional burden it places on the developers.

“Having their projects come back to the city again and again is very tough for them,” Rickards said. “Every time the projects come back, everyone has another chance to take a shot at them.”