THOUSAND OAKS : New Hearing Set on Creekside Project

A decade-long development dispute will come before the Thousand Oaks City Council again on Tuesday in a public hearing that could finally resolve the contentious issue.

Council members will decide whether Raznick & Sons developers can build 87 single-family houses next to a Newbury Park wetland.

The project, known as Creekside, has evoked strong opposition from neighbors and environmental activists.

The council rejected the project once, and ordered Raznick Vice President Ellen Michiel to redesign the tract with bigger lots and less encroachment on the wetlands.

Michiel’s revised blueprints were rejected by the Planning Commission nearly three weeks ago, prompting her appeal to the City Council.

Council members will debate the case at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

But Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said she hopes the public hearing never advances to a final vote.

Instead, she would like to send the project back to the developers to ask them to conduct a more thorough environmental review.

Citing several planning commissioners’ concerns, Zeanah called the current environmental analysis flawed and inadequate.

“I think we as a council would be suspect to even consider this project” without more detailed review, she said.