Panel OKs Work on Smaller Center
Developers of a failed Home Depot project were given the go-ahead this week to continue plans for a scaled-down shopping center.
The Planning Commission Tuesday unanimously approved an environmental study for the revised project, planned for the site of a former drive-in theater on Telephone Road near the Ventura Freeway.
The new project, a replacement for a Home Depot plan that ran into strong opposition from residents, would be anchored by a smaller tenant, the Milwaukee-based Kohl’s department store. That store would be 20,942 feet smaller than the Home Depot plan, and would represent the chain’s first Southern California store.
“It’s quite a bit smaller and much less intense in use,” Ventura planning manager Dennis Mackay said. “I think [the opposition] has pretty much subsided.”
The department store would bring in fewer trucks and have shorter operating hours, Mackay said.
The City Council must approve a zone change for the property at its Dec. 18 meeting for the plan to continue, Mackay said.
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