Plan to Renovate Retail Center Denied

The Thousand Oaks City Council has told the owners of a Newbury Park shopping center that their plans to renovate and expand need more work.

Council members voted 5 to 0 on Tuesday to deny the Newbury Park Group’s renovation plans, though the shopping center’s owners can come back and try again later. The city’s planning commissioners deadlocked on the issue last month.

The proposed face lift of the Newbury Park Center at Newbury Road and Giant Oak Avenue would have demolished the existing stores in stages, replacing them with 91,150 square feet of retail space spread over seven buildings.

The largest building was to house a multiplex movie theater run by CinemaStar Luxury Theaters of Oceanside.

The Planning Commission split 2 to 2 over the renovation plan. Commissioners Forrest Frields and John Powers supported the project, while Linda Parks and Marilyn Carpenter were opposed. Commissioner Ronald Polanski abstained.

Although several planning commissioners agreed that the shopping center was in need of an overhaul, they balked at the scope of the project, which calls for the removal of six oak trees and part of a hillside behind the present buildings.