Planning Commissioner Steps Down : Thousand Oaks: Forrest Frields is replaced by John Powers after four years. He supported ‘personal property rights.’

Less than one month after Forrest Frields joined the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in January of 1991, he endured a civic planner’s trial by fire.

A developer wanted to build a three-story, 245,000-square-foot mall near Thousand Oaks and Westlake boulevards.

Residents complained that the project would snarl traffic and increase air pollution.

The commissioners, four of whom were new to the panel, debated eight hours into the night before rejecting the proposal.

The experience taught Frields, 52, how to approach planning decisions. “You listen to staff, you listen to experts, you listen to neighbors,” he said.

Frields left the commission Monday after serving 4 1/2 years. He was replaced by John Powers, who was nominated by Councilman Michael Markey.

Frields’ fellow commissioners said they would miss his evenhanded approach to contentious issues and the respect he showed commissioners, developers and residents.

“When we had hearings, he heard,” said Linda Parks, the commission’s vice chairwoman. “He really listened, not only to other commissioners but to individuals.”

Chairwoman Marilyn Carpenter praised his independent thinking.

“While we didn’t always vote the same way, you understood why he voted the way he did,” she said. “He really called them as he saw them, and that’s really all you can ask.”

County Supervisor Frank Schillo, then the mayor of Thousand Oaks, was impressed by Frields’ interest in community service and nominated him for the spot.

A former Army helicopter pilot who had served two tours in Vietnam, Frields had been commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post and was a member of the citizens traffic committee at the time of his nomination.

“That’s what I liked about him, that he was in the process of paying his dues, so to speak, by getting involved in the community,” Schillo said. “I think that should be rewarded.”

Frields’ tenure was marked by major debates over the development of open space, but most of those battles are over, the battlegrounds either developed or slated for development, Frields said.

He said he is mostly happy with those decisions. “I believe in personal property rights . . . and the rights of a person to maximize their property.”

The Planning Commission’s role in city affairs, he said, is limited to determining whether projects meet city standards. It doesn’t include setting or changing the standards of what can or can’t be built.

“I think sometimes the commission can lose sight of that, but our job is very limited,” he said. “We just hammer or massage the project until it does conform, or we deny it.”

Frields said the same approach must be applied to what he sees as the current battle in local planning, the entrance of large retail chains into Thousand Oaks. Chains such as Best Buy electronics and Barnes & Noble books--both of which plan to open Thousand Oaks stores--may threaten smaller local merchants, Frields said, but they must be treated with the same standards as everyone else.

“Everyone’s entitled to have their shot at the golden ring,” he said. “The chains have as much a right to it as the little guy.”

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Although Frields cites his respect for property rights as an important principle, commissioners past and present said he didn’t occupy a specific philosophical niche on the commission. His decisions, several said, were impossible to predict.

“Sometimes it’s very difficult to figure out Forrest or at least where he’s coming from,” said former Commissioner Irving Wasserman. “I never once saw him come into any important hearing with his mind made up as to which way he was going to go.”

Now that his term on the commission is over, Frields said he hopes to stay involved in civic life. He may run for a spot on the City Council in 1996. He briefly considered a run in last month’s election but withdrew to concentrate on replacing his home, severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

“To have a hand, no matter how slight, in shaping your city’s future and destiny,” Frields said, “now that’s something.”