Showdown Over Satellite Dish Is Delayed in Westlake Village

A showdown over use of Westlake Village’s first residential satellite dish apparently will be delayed until after adoption of new federal guidelines affecting local regulation of antennas.

Thousand Oaks Planning Commissioners have voted unanimously to postpone until Nov. 18 action on a special-use dish permit sought by homeowners Stephanie and Bruce Maltz, who live in the Ventura County part of Westlake Village. The pair have used a 10-foot-wide backyard dish to pull in more than 150 television channels since January.

Tom Preece, a Thousand Oaks city planning staff member, said the delay was requested by the Maltzes. He said the Federal Communications Commission is expected to issue its new rules in October. The planning commission voted on the matter Monday night.

The couple’s Westlake Village neighbors have protested the $5,000 antenna. They complain that it violates deed restrictions that prohibit outside antennas of all types in the 17,000-home planned community, which is traversed by the Los Angeles-Ventura county line.

Leaders of homeowner groups in Westlake Village have said they will go to court if necessary to enforce the neighborhood covenants if the city issues a permit for the Maltz dish.

A spokeswoman for the FCC said the commission is expected to consider outlawing such deed restrictions when commissioners decide on the legality of local satellite-dish ordinances.