The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission this week approved construction of a mixed-use complex, including apartments, commercial space and outdoor dining areas, at the downtown site of the former Lupe’s Mexican Restaurant.
Lupe’s, a Thousand Oaks mainstay for nearly 70 years, closed in August.
The commission green-lighted the project by applicant Dalygroup Inc. on a 3-1 vote Monday night, with commission Chairman David Newman dissenting. Unless the commission’s decision is appealed to the City Council within 10 days, it will constitute the final approval of the project.
The commission approved a special-use permit to allow construction of two, three-story buildings with 36 apartments on the 5.13-acre site at 1710 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. and nearby parcels. The permit also allows the construction of 4,980 square feet of commercial space, parking areas, public exterior spaces, outdoor dining areas, recreation amenities and associated site improvements.Read More...
The commission additionally approved permits to allow the removal of several oak and sycamore trees from the site, the transplanting of 12 other oaks to an adjacent property and the transplanting of a toyon tree.
Vince Daly, of Thousand Oaks-based developer Dalygroup, said he was happy with the commission’s approval of the project.
“We are very pleased and have been with the entire process and outcome,” he said Tuesday, noting that the project is a joint venture between
Dalygroup and a Westlake Village firm, California Commercial Investment Group. “Local guys doing a local project,” he said with a laugh.
The project is consistent with a city priority to revitalize the downtown portion of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, said city Senior Planner Stephen Kearns.
The Thousand Oaks Boulevard Association, which says it is “dedicated to the beautification and revitalization of the boulevard,” supported the project in a letter to the commission.
The project is not without opponents. The handful of them who spoke at Monday night’s meeting voiced concerns about the removal of the trees.
Theodore Ragsdale, a volunteer for Concerned Parents of Conejo Valley, expressed other concerns, including traffic flow and congestion, in an email to Kearns.
“I’m not against this development, nor am I for it,” Ragsdale wrote. “I am concerned about the values, ideals and future design of Thousand Oaks and our happiness that makes our community so unique, special and artsy.”
If the commission’s decision is not appealed within the 10 days, the builders can then start pulling permits for demolition and grading, Kearns said. Lupe’s and a vacant single-family home behind it will be torn down, he said.
After Lupe’s founder Martha Zuniga died in 1997, her adult children kept the restaurant going. But with no next generation of the family standing by to continue running it, they decided last year to close.
“It was time,” Lupe Zuniga, the last remaining daughter who had been actively involved in running the restaurant, told the Star in August. “There was just the feeling that it was time.”
