City Tables Project Near Arts Plaza

Responding to criticism that it would be too large and intense for the area, the City Council on Tuesday rejected an agreement to allow a developer to build a movie theater, restaurant and office complex up to four stories high beside the Civic Arts Plaza.

In a rare display of consensus, council members voted unanimously to table a deal with El Segundo-based Kilroy Industries, which wanted to purchase and develop the 11.5-acre parcel at the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Old Conejo School Road.

A diverse group of residents and former city leaders urged the council to postpone a decision, saying the uses proposed for the site--everything from a United Artists multiplex to a possible health club--were too much for the area to handle.

Even if the council had approved the deal, the specific development plans would still have needed to go before the city’s Planning Commission for approval.

“I think we ought to slow down, take a real look at what we’re doing, and take this back to the drawing board,” Councilman Andy Fox said.

“I’m very concerned with the density of this site and what it is going to do for the boulevard,” said Councilwoman Linda Parks. “There are buildings here up to four levels.”

With the deal, Thousand Oaks would have been forced to swallow a multimillion-dollar loss on an earlier real estate investment.

Overall, depending on what is built, Thousand Oaks would have received between $4.54 million and $5.75 million from the deal--far less than the $9.12 million the city paid in the 1980s to acquire the land and to settle a related lawsuit with the previous landowner.

City officials defended the proposed deal, saying it would be unfair to expect Thousand Oaks to recoup all its land costs, because the property’s price was linked to a legal battle.

“It’s an artificial acquisition cost that really does not relate to today’s value,” said City Atty. Mark Sellers.

But critics downplayed the money issue, focusing instead on what they saw as the many unanswered questions about the development--particularly the lack of an architect to guide the project. Kilroy’s previous architect was dismissed last year.

Former Mayor Larry Horner warned city leaders to take their time deciding the fate of such a critically important piece of land.

“I don’t think we’re ready to go forward with this development agreement. And it is not a sin to back out of it at this point,” Horner said.

As written, the agreement called for development in two phases, with a total density of up to 230,000 square feet--about half the size of a previous proposal that included a hotel, but still much more than some critics want to see. Residents also criticized the two-phased process, arguing that the movie theater would open before most of the surrounding restaurants.

The larger first phase would have contained a 90,000-square-foot cinema and virtual reality center, more than half a dozen specialty shops and restaurants, and a multilevel parking garage for up to 1,100 cars.

The second phase would have included additional restaurants and retail shops, such as gourmet coffee shops and ice cream parlors, furthering the city’s vision of the project as a complement to its $64-million performing arts complex next door.

Kilroy Industries also sought an option to build office buildings and retail space up to four stories high on the site--an exception from city design guidelines that limit building heights to 35 feet. Of course, such a development would still be dwarfed by the Civic Arts Plaza, which reaches heights of 100 feet in some sections.

In addition to its use by shoppers and moviegoers, the parking garage at the complex would also have provided parking for the Ventura County Discovery Center, a proposed children’s science museum that would be in a park between the center and the Civic Arts Plaza. And Kilroy industries would have provided a 1,200-square-foot space free of charge for a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department community substation.