Local Buzz covers new businesses, restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
Local Buzz covers new restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
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As mentioned last week, Fresh & Easy is building a new location in Camarillo near the corner of Las Posas and Arneill. You can't miss it. It is on the north side of Las Posas, west of Arneill, next to Phelps Medical Center. I can't even remember what used to be there now. Here's physical evidence of the construction.
Not much happening with condo sales at Songbird Office Park, on Old Conejo Road near Wendy Drive, where 31 buildings were constructed within the last 2 years on the 13 acre property that used to be owned by Talley Corporation, a machine shop manufacturer for missile and airline parts. Most of the 30 condo commercial offices have sat vacant. So, about a year ago Thousand Oaks got an application asking for permission to subdivide those condos so as to add 47 more commercial offices for a total of 77. Then, the property was foreclosed upon and 1st California Bank now owns them. City Planner Pam Leopold said she is not sure if the new owner still wants to subdivide them.
Calleguas MWD to Relocate Vital Water Supply Pipeline in Thousand Oaks
On January 3, the Calleguas Municipal Water District (Calleguas) will begin construction activities to relocate a 48-inch diameter pipeline that provides water service to much of the Thousand Oaks area. Originally installed in 1965, the Conejo Valley Feeder delivers water to residents and businesses in the central and western portions of the valley.
Under the $1.4 million project, Calleguas will construct 500 feet of pipe within a new steel casing paralleling the existing pipeline along Olsen Road under the State Highway 23 bridge. In recent years, the California Department of Transportation made seismic related improvements to the highway bridge. The location of these improvements on top of Calleguas’ pipeline require that a segment of pipe be relocated to ensure continued water supply reliability and public safety.
During construction, vehicular traffic will be constrained in both directions to allow construction crews adequate space to install the new pipe and connect it with the existing pipeline beyond the bridge’s support columns. The left of the two eastbound lanes will be closed for the duration of the project, scheduled for completion by May 2011. The right eastbound lane will remain open and be modified to allow vehicles to either continue along Olsen Road to Simi Valley or access the northbound highway onramp. The left westbound lane on Olsen Road will also be closed between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily. Project updates will be posted to Calleguas’ web site at www.calleguas.com.
“Maintaining flow through this regional supply pipeline is essential for reliable water service to literally tens of thousands of water users in the area,” said Susan Mulligan, Calleguas General Manager. “We are working closely with Caltrans and the City of Thousand Oaks to design a traffic control plan that minimizes impacts on local commuters while enabling our contractor adequate space to work. We apologize for any inconvenience for area residents and are committed to completing the project as
quickly as possible.”
Calleguas is one of twenty-six member agencies of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the primary urban water supplier in Ventura County, providing water service to a population of over 600,000. Through a variety retail water agencies and companies, Calleguas provides water to the cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Port Hueneme as well as surrounding unincorporated areas.
Last year public works employees were out in the rain clearing a fallen tree limb. So far, during the recent rains, that's not happened. That may change if wind starts blowing as some predict.
The millions of dollars Thousand Oaks has put into its drainage and streets system was put to the test over the past week with record rainfall. The public works department of 200 workers directed by Mark Watkins passed with an excellent grade. There was only an occasional pothole reported and quickly filled. The city pays more to pave streets with asphalt rubber made out of recycled tires. The rubber pavement wears better as proven after recent rain storms. Now, with windy weather predicted, the public works department is ready with chainsaws and woodchippers to clear any downed trees that might fall on public property due to roots not getting a good grip in saturated ground. To report any service needs call (805) 449-2499.
Thousand Oaks City planners are still reviewing the design of the 2,200 square foot Chick-fil-A building proposed to replace Weinerschnitzel, 3771 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard. There will be no date set for it to go before the planning commission until issues of drainage and grading are settled. There's not a lot of flexibility on the site to make new building requirements work. For a while Chick-fil-A looked around at other sites in Thousand Oaks that would also offer a drive-thru, but came back to the Weinerschnitzel site, a city official said. Maybe some time next year fried chicken breast sandwiches will replace hot dogs, chili and cheeseburgers.
In Camarillo, city planners are suggesting Chick-fil-A take a look at other sites than where the company has applied to build. The Camarillo Promenade is a carefully designed environment that has been tirelessly developed to meet a standard that is pedestrian friendly. The drive-thru proposed conflicts with the village retail setting described in the area's specific plan. The retail center is at Ventura Blvd. East of Los Posas. The city's community development department has not accepted the restaurant's application, saying it's incomplete. Planners like the company, just not the drive-thru in the Promenade.
Thousand Oaks City Planner Pam Leopold said a new application was filed with the city today that appears to overcome several obstacles slowing down the previous application from Chick-fil-A. Now, the chicken sandwich restaurant wants to build a 2,197 square foot building with only outdoor dining and a drive-thru. The parcel did not accommodate interior dining, Pam said. Watch out for the wrecking ball, little Weinerschnitzel guy.
I don't have the specific dates, but two new Fresh & Easy stores are coming soon at 2249 Las Posas Road (at Arneill) in Camarillo and 2260 E. Thompson (at Seaward) in Ventura. And there ya have it. Visit www.freshandeasy.com for more information. Personally I'm a Fresh & Easy fan as I can usually count on getting in and out of the store extremely quickly with the self serve approach. I enjoy buying snacks, bakery items and pre-packaged meals at F&E but also buy other things. Prices seem pretty reasonable. Don't get my wrong, I still stop by Trader Joes and other markets but there is something uniquely different about F&E that brings me back.
As previously reported in the Kids Fun section of CVG, The Roller Dome in Thousand Oaks shut its doors at the beginning of October 2010. This is a sad trend we've seen in recent years as local entertainment venues in the Conejo Valley continue shutting their doors. No bowling alley, no roller skating facility and no ceramics painting. But we do still have Disc Golf and it's free!
We can only guess as to why city officials kept a decision to shorten service hours at City Hall and the library that was made during a Nov. 9 closed session a secret for over a month. But we now know that decision was not made "as a cost saving measure," as originally claimed. According to city spokesperson Andrew Powers, the shorter hours will not save any more money. It is supposed to help city employees give better service. After the millions of dollars worth of cuts the city was unable to provide "consistently efficient service," Powers said. So, more hours meant less service and fewer hours means more service.
Earlier this week Thousand Oaks announced shorter hours for City Hall and the library that were decided without residents' knowledge or input. Hour cuts include City Hall closing every other Friday. The main library will open one hour later and close one hour earlier Monday through Thursday. The city's official response on its Web site was the hours were cut to save money. That turns out to not be exactly true. The reason given for it being decided during a closed session was because it was done as a part of "labor relations exception to the Brown Act." The Brown Act is to protect the public from elected officials making decisions without the public's knowledge.
Wienerschnitzel in Thousand Oaks will be demolished if a proposed planning and development project goes forward and gains approval. Then it will be replaced with the construction of a Chick-fil-A restaurant built on the same spot, 3771 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd, next to the Do-it Center.
If the project proposal goes through there will be no more double chili cheeseburgers or kraut dogs served at that location. Forget about a 79 cent corn dog on a stick.
Get ready for whole-breast chicken, fresh fruits, vegetables and lemonade made from squeezing lemons. Chick-fil-A employees will be chopping cabbage each day for the cole slaw and making carrot and raisin salad. The breaded chicken that goes on buns and the waffle fries are cooked in peanut oil.
At dinnertime, 4:45 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, there were no cars in the drive-thru at Wienerschnitzel Thousand Oaks. There were seven cars lined up at the McDonald's drive-thru a few yards away on the other side of the Do-it Center parking lot. Well, if residents want delicious hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers or fries with or without chili they better get over there before the Thousand Oaks landmark is rubble.
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
