THOUSAND OAKS : Apartment Project OKd After Delays

After waiting through weeks of debate on larger developments and even a brief electrical fire at City Hall, a proposal to build a five-unit apartment complex in Thousand Oaks has won city approval.

The city Planning Commission voted Monday to approve the project, which would create two small apartment buildings on Royal Oaks Drive north of the Ventura Freeway near Hampshire Road.

Originally scheduled for last month, the project’s latest public hearing had been delayed while the commission devoted several meetings to considering the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s proposal for a shopping complex, a school and housing in Newbury Park.

The hearing finally got under way Monday night, only to be interrupted when electrical wiring above the dais in the City Council chambers burst into flames and dropped burning debris onto the floor. The commissioners and the 15 people in the audience evacuated the building for about five minutes while the fire was snuffed out.

The panel took a second break when firefighters started climbing through the scaffolding near the chamber ceiling, looking for the fire’s cause.

Once back, commissioners expressed concern that the project design might not provide adequate protection from freeway noise. During the project’s first appearance before the commission, in September, similar concerns prompted commissioners to ask for a noise study at the property.

As part of their approval Monday, commissioners required the developer, Thomas McArthur, to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that noise levels inside the buildings meet city standards before the buildings can be occupied.