THOUSAND OAKS : Looming Dirt Pile Irritates Neighbors

Thousand Oaks city planners never told developers what to do with the dirt and rocks dug out for a drainage basin, so there is nothing legally stopping workers from leaving a 25-foot pile of leftover rubble within a few feet of a Newbury Park neighborhood, the city engineer told the City Council.

Residents of Blackwood and Greenwood streets and nearby have complained for weeks about a huge mound of dirt and rocks looming behind their back yards, where a portion of the Dos Vientos development is under construction.

Homeowners have banded together to fight the location of the pile, which they say poses a health and safety threat. Children have found mice and snakes in the 25-foot-tall pile, and dust kicked up by passing earthmovers pollutes the neighborhood, residents say.

Richard Hostin, project engineer for developer Operating Engineers Pension Trust, said the pile would last through the spring.

“The basin being there, I can understand,” said resident Ray Gervais, who took his complaint to the council Tuesday night. “What we’re fighting is the stockpiling. It’s jeopardizing the homes.”

After a series of complaints to council members in recent weeks, City Engineer Gil Pableo submitted a six-page report to the panel late Tuesday.

But the report concludes that planning officials failed to specify exactly where the excess dirt should be placed while the catch basin is being dug.

“With the tract conditions and specific plan silent on the matter of stockpiling . . ., the city could not require a different location for the stockpile,” the report states.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah directed staff to make a more complete report on the issue at the next council meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 21.