City Seeks to Ease Impact of Construction Work

Hoping to make construction projects and road repairs as painless as possible on residents and businesses, the City Council on Tuesday agreed to take a serious look at Mayor Andy Fox’s plan to solicit citizen input on construction work.

Fox proposed a wide-ranging community outreach program where city workers would meet with merchants and homeowners before housing projects and city repairs take place near them. Council members voted unanimously to have city officials return to them with a plan to make Fox’s concept a reality.

Thousand Oaks already sends written notices to affected neighbors in the case of most major developments or infrastructure improvements.

But Fox argued that the city needs to do more. He wants Thousand Oaks city workers to meet with businesses and neighbors for any construction project of four houses or larger, and for all city projects that significantly affect a part of town.

He said his proposal comes after two incidents--a sidewalk repair project in the Shadow Oaks neighborhood, and a construction project in Newbury Park--where city repairs angered store owners and neighbors.

In both cases, Fox said, many of the people affected did not learn of the work until it had begun. And both times, he said, citizen input would have changed the way the work was performed, making it less burdensome on those it affected.

For example, a current expansion by Amgen Inc. has affected businesses on nearby Rancho Conejo Boulevard. But some of that impact was reduced after city workers met with merchants.

“If we had met with the businesses beforehand, we would have realized the traffic pattern we had set up was having a negative effect on them,” Fox said. “Once we met with them, we made some changes and we took care of the problem. So that leads me to believe that we could have avoided the problem altogether.”

The crux of his plan, Fox said, is his belief that few people are going to understand the effect of construction on an area better than the merchants and homeowners who live and work in it.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said the city should strive to notify residents even earlier than it does now.

“It’s one thing to improve communications, which I believe are excellent now. What we need is to let businesses know beforehand, before the first barriers go up.”

Don Nelson, the city’s public works director, said that with many Thousand Oaks neighborhoods nearing 30, the city will be making more repairs in the next few years.

“We do have a public notification process. But that’s not to say it can’t be made better,” he said.