Mini-Mall Proposal Gets Favorable Reviews

A proposal to build a $6-million shopping center on one of the last pieces of available business space in this unincorporated community is winning the support of nearby residents, who vehemently opposed earlier plans to build a gas station on the site.

Neighbors who criticized Texaco Inc.’s plan to construct a gas station and 24-hour convenience store at Lindero Canyon and Kanan roads are encouraged by Oak Park Place, a 30,000-square-foot retail complex that developers hope to open next summer.

“We as a community, of course, would much rather see something like this than a gas station,” said Ruth Rose, the chief organizer of the Say No to Texaco Committee. “We as a community would like to work with [the developer] so that he can construct what we need and what would fit into our neighborhood.”

The shopping center would consist of 16,000 square feet of space for three or four retail shops and 14,000 square feet for up to four restaurants.

“It will be high-end, very classy, but at prices people can afford,” said Gary Safady, managing partner of O & S Holdings of Encino. “It’s a high demographic area as far as income levels, and it’s a family-oriented community.”

For example, Safady said the restaurants would offer many entrees for $8 to $10. But he added that the average household income within a one-mile radius of the 3.6-acre site is about $140,000.

Neither Safady nor Texaco officials would disclose how much O & S Holdings will pay for the property, but Safady said his company has paid a deposit and placed it in escrow. He said he hopes to complete the purchase by the end of the year, even if the project has not been approved by Ventura County planning officials.

“It’s the last piece of commercially zoned land which is vacant in Oak Park,” Safady said. “We want to move on this quickly.”

Plans call for an early 1998 groundbreaking, and Safady said the shopping center could open by next summer.

Residents and officials battled Texaco after it purchased the parcel in December 1995.

Rose spearheaded a petition drive that gathered more than 1,200 signatures from Oak Park and nearby North Ranch residents protesting the plan.

They complained that gas stations and convenience stores are magnets for criminals, who find them easy targets to hold up.

As a result of the strong opposition, Texaco never presented its plans to the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council, which makes recommendations to the county Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission makes the final determination on whether an applicant is granted a building permit.

“We never said ‘no’ to Texaco,” said council member Todd Haines. “We were opposed to the concept of a gas station on that corner.”

Oak Park remains a gas-station-free zone and Texaco has abandoned plans to construct anything in the community.

“Once the property is sold, Texaco will have no further interest,” said Fred Ackers, a real estate consultant hired by the oil company.

Haines said the initial response from the advisory council and residents to the mini-mall plan has been favorable.

“It’s a much better proposal than Texaco,” he said. “This project, at least what is proposed, is much more in character with something that would benefit Oak Park.”

Traffic safety was a major concern with the proposed gas station, and remains a concern with the new plans, according to Haines.

“But with a gas station, it’s a constant flow of traffic,” he said. “With a mini-mall, people stop and park for an hour [or] 1 1/2 hours so the traffic impact is less.”