Council Asked to OK New Building Codes

For years, city officials informally required apartment building owners who wanted to expand their property to adhere to the stringent rules used for new construction.

Hoping to continue discouraging unacceptable additions, planning commissioners this week unanimously recommended the Thousand Oaks City Council formally adopt the measures for apartment and condominium complexes as part of the Municipal Code.

Monday’s vote came after more than three years of study by city staff on how to best restrict and standardize criteria for additions and renovations to existing multifamily housing complexes.

“The idea behind this ordinance is to discourage any additions that would change the original design of the project,” said Mike Sangster, a city planner. “With this it would be almost impossible to make any additions to the buildings.”

Sangster said passage of the measure could not have come at a better time.

The city’s stock of housing is rapidly aging and will soon be in need of repairs and renovation.

The ordinance, if approved by the City Council, will place limits on what property owners are allowed to do before they petition the city for permits.

“In many ways this is more of an informational document for residents,” he said. “It sets down some very specific criteria on what can and cannot be done to those existing properties.”