Plan Denied After Builder Collapses : Thousand Oaks: The city rejects a Newbury Park housing and shopping center project after a 7-hour hearing.

A controversial housing and shopping center complex in Newbury Park was rejected early Wednesday by the Thousand Oaks City Council after a seven-hour-long hearing that left a Sherman Oaks developer sobbing on the meeting room floor.

Ned Cohan, 65, was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center after his collapse at the meeting, said his son, Albert Cohan. He was released about three hours later and is recovering at his Los Angeles home.

City officials said Cohan collapsed shortly before 3 a.m., soon after council members indicated that they would not support the developer’s plan to build 170 houses and townhomes and a 117,600-square-foot shopping center at the corner of Reino Road and Kimber Drive.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, who made the motion to deny the project, said Cohan became disruptive before he fell to the floor.

“He started hollering and said, ‘I’m going to have a heart attack!’ � she said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Lary Reynolds said Cohan appeared to be emotionally distressed as he lay on the floor moaning and sobbing.

“I’ve seen people get upset, but I’ve never seen anybody get this upset at the council,� said Reynolds, who bounces troublesome speakers. “This is the first one I ever had hauled out in an ambulance.�

About half an hour after Cohan was whisked away, council members called the meeting back to order and voted 4 to 1 against the developer’s proposal. Councilman Alex Fiore dissented.

Cohan’s collapse followed a tense public hearing in which his proposal drew fire from about 20 of the 190 Newbury Park residents who appeared to protest.

Critics argued that Cohan’s development would have destroyed sensitive wetlands. The proposed shopping center would have increased traffic congestion and air pollution in the quiet, residential neighborhood, they said.

“We’re very happy with the decision,� said homeowner Richard Heitmann, who helped gather 825 signatures on petitions opposing the project.

Mayor Robert E. Lewis said the council would have approved the project as presented had it not received information from staff that the proposed shopping center was at least 15% to 20% larger than most neighborhood supermarkets and malls in the city.

After the vote, Lewis called for a committee of homeowners, city council members and county flood-control officials to meet with the developer in an attempt to come up with a new project. But his suggestion was rebuffed.

“We’re not interested. This committee is another tool to hold us back for another five years,� Cohan said. “The city has intentionally caused us emotional distress, and they know it.�

Cohan vowed to file a lawsuit against the city and the county flood-control district.

Ned Cohan had been toiling under tremendous financial and emotional strain after nearly a dozen years of feuding with city and county officials over the development, Albert Cohan said.

Ned Cohan began planning the project in the early 1980s. It was tied up for years because of a dispute with the Ventura County Flood Control District over the construction of a storm basin to prevent flooding.

The Cohans recently agreed to build a retention basin that would help protect about 300 homes downstream from the project from flooding.

Then, earlier this year, the council rejected Cohan’s original plan to build 197 houses and apartments and a two-story, 140,000-square-foot shopping center.

Council members directed Cohan and his architects to scale down the development, but did not give specific instructions about the size of the shopping center.

Things appeared to be on track after the city Planning Commission gave its blessing to a trimmed-down version of the project last month. City planners, some of whom had overseen the project since its inception, had also recommended approval.

Cohan “has been put through a nightmare,� Councilwoman Zeanah said. “It’s been traumatic for both the applicant and residents.�