Store Will Bring Noise and Traffic

* With the proposed Orchard Supply Hardware in Thousand Oaks, we have another situation where development comes before the quality of the neighborhood.

The plan to re-stripe the parking lot and eliminate the landscaped median strip on Avenida de Los Arboles is not in keeping with the appearance of the area. This is being proposed by Orchard solely so it can get more vehicles into the area and into the center. Traffic and noise have to be the primary consideration for this already crowded traffic intersection.

This store is not going to draw customers just from the surrounding neighborhoods. Store managers intend to draw from distant areas. They also want contractor business, and that means more truck traffic and increased noise. If this parcel was zoned back in 1979 for this type of development, why aren’t there sufficient roads to support the future traffic?

Why does the Planning Commission agree to do this type of zoning here but not in the exclusive areas of North Ranch or Lake Sherwood? Don’t they deserve the same “convenience” of shopping that the Planning Commission is trying to give us in this neighborhood?

DAN DEL CAMPO

Thousand Oaks