Developer Courts Neighbors on Mall Proposal : Shopping: Builder has plans for the same site where a similar project ran afoul of residents in ’91. He hopes the outcome is different this time.

Four years ago, a developer tried to build a mall at Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards, only to see the project shot down by the City Council after neighborhood residents complained about potential traffic problems.

Now another developer, Rick Caruso, wants to build a mall at the same intersection, and he isn’t taking chances with the neighbors.

Caruso, president of Caruso Affiliated Holdings of Brentwood, has met with members of a local homeowners group to solicit comments. Another meeting to brief residents on plans for the 200,000-square-foot mall has been scheduled for Sept. 28 at the North Ranch Community Center.

The company has taken a proactive approach to working with residents, Caruso said, rather than risk the ill will that helped doom the earlier proposal.

“We want the community to be excited about the project,” he said. “We want to show them what we’ve done and make sure it’s what they want.”

The approach pleases Kirsten Larsen, president of the Westlake Hills Homeowners Assn. Her group is part of the Westlake Joint Board, which includes several members who have met with company officials.

“I think that it’s a must for them before they go to the city,” she said.

But Ventura County Planning Commissioner Forrest Frields said opposition may materialize once the plan is more widely publicized. “The same issues are there as before,” he said.

Although the firm has yet to submit formal plans to the city, much of the groundwork for the Thousand Oaks Town Center has been laid, Caruso said.

Several potential tenants--including a bookstore, grocery store and a theater--already have agreed to participate, he said. If the city approves, the mall could open in October, 1996.

The mix of tenants, Caruso said, would be the mall’s main attraction.

“The whole concept here is to create a living space, what we call a lifestyle center,” Caruso said. “You can go to dinner, see a movie and just spend time out.”

Of course, the previous developer had many of the same ideas. Proposed tenants included a movie theater, restaurants and shops--all covering about 255,000 square feet at the intersection’s southwest corner.

Frields had just joined the city’s Planning Commission when the project came up for a public hearing in January, 1991. About 70 residents attended, many upset by the project’s size, he said. They complained the mall would cut off views of nearby ridges and snarl the intersection with traffic.

“It was hot and heavy,” said Frields, now a county planning commissioner. “It was like an eight-hour meeting.”

The commission recommended that the City Council reject the proposal, and weeks later the council did.

Caruso said his proposal should fare better. His firm has taken the homeowners’ comments into account while shaping the project. Some people requested a grocery store, for instance, so one has been included in the plans.

Larsen said she likes what she has heard of the project so far. “I like the stores they’re putting in,” she said. “The shops there will be different.”

Caruso said he hopes the relationship with residents will continue to go smoothly.

“It’s really been a pleasure dealing with them because they know what they want, and what they want is not unreasonable,” he said.