THOUSAND OAKS : Panel to Reconsider Church Development
The Seventh-day Adventist Church will have another chance to pitch a plan to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission to build schools, housing and a shopping center on the church’s Newbury Park property.
At the church’s request, the City Council voted Tuesday night to send the proposal back to the Planning Commission, which rejected key portions of the plan in January.
Since January, the commission has added two members and will soon add another. Mayor Jaime Zukowski said the move will let new commissioners evaluate the entire package, not just the portions left over from the previous vote.
The proposed development covers 458 acres north of the Ventura Freeway near Wendy Drive. Plans call for a shopping center near the freeway and a complex of school buildings, housing and a retirement center on what is now open space.
Commissioners had expressed concerns about both the use of open space and the creation of a shopping center, which some feared would lure customers away from older Thousand Oaks businesses.
In response, the church redesigned the project, cutting back the number of homes proposed for the site.
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