NEWBURY PARK : Commission Rejects Church’s Project

After denying a developer’s pleas to postpone deliberations, the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission shocked Seventh-day Adventist Church officials by voting against their $100-million Newbury Park commercial development.

The commission majority voted against the shopping center and school campus Monday night after four hearings and more than 20 hours of debate, saying the plan violated long-held city policies.

“What they were requesting was totally inconsistent with numerous, well-established city policies,” Commissioner Marilyn Carpenter said. “I don’t see how we could have supported it.”

But Commissioner Forrest Frields, who cast the lone vote for the project, said he believed the giant retail center would have a positive effect on the community, and deserved approval.

The commission’s vote is a recommendation to the City Council, which will make a final vote.

Church representatives said they were stunned by the decision, which came after they made what they believed was a routine request for a continuance.

“The whole thing was a complete surprise,” said Francisco Behr, the project’s architect. “I think it’s very unfortunate that the hearing was held at all.”

The final 3-1 vote came at the end of a highly unusual Monday night hearing--a hearing the developer had wanted to delay and chose not to attend.

Commissioner Mervyn Kopp said he abstained from the final vote because he felt the process had been stripped of fairness.

“This shouldn’t even have been considered a hearing,” Kopp said. “The applicant wasn’t there, there was virtually no one from the public; it just didn’t make sense to proceed.”

Monday night’s hearing will be the last on the Seventh-day project until late February, when the commission will review the project’s conditions.

After that, Behr said, the church will appeal the decision to the City Council.

“We’ll let them look at it and hopefully they’ll see it differently,” he said.